Used the Studio Plus audio plugin "Channeltool" to fix an audio problem on a bit of footage where the left channel of an external mic went intermittent/crackly. I used the Channeltool's "Right to dual mono" preset - but when using it I noticed the following:

(a) With the Channeltool's "master volume" and "left/right mix" sliders at their default 0dB / 0% settings there was an unexpected drop in output volume of around 3dB. I was expecting that the plugin to simply blank out the left channel's original audio and put a copy of the right channel's audio in its place (since both channels were carrying similar audio - subject was directly in front of the mic - I would have expected very little change in the audio level).

(b) I corrected the volume drop by increasing the "master volume" slider - however the adjustment steps around 0dB are quite coarse (-3.5dB, 0dB, +1.9db, +2.8dB, +3.7dB). And why does the adjustment need to go all the way down to -80dB??. The +2.8dB setting was "not quite enough" (audio indication as seen in the bargraph didn't seem to peak as high as the original audio before the plugin was applied) and the +3.7dB setting was "too much" (some light clipping started occurring).

(c) When an adjustment is made to either of the sliders, the preset name shown in the drop-down list is blanked. So it is not possible to tell any more which Channeltool effect had originally been applied.

For many other plugins this is not an issue as the presets simply load a particular set of slider values (the plugin does only one job and is controlleed only by the slider settings). This is not the case for the Channeltool; it can do multiple jobs (chosen by the preset) and the sliders just fine tune that particular job. For example, it is not possible to change friom the "Stereo to Left" to the "Right to Dual Mono" simply by altering the slider positions.

(d) After adjusting the sliders, if "Reset" is clicked to set them back to the default 0dB / 0% positions, the name of the selected preset (job Channeltool will be doing) does not reappear in the drop-down list. So it is still no longer known what preset was originally selected - and to be sure the user has to select the preset again!

I suggest that for the Channeltool plugin, that the preset chosen (and hence the job the plugin is doing) should remain visible in the drop-down list even after the sliders have been moved; the "Reset" button can start off being greyed out and become active if the sliders have been moved. So the preset (job Channeltool will be doing) will always be visible and if the "reset" button is not greyed out the user will know that the sliders have been moved and the effect is no longer at the default settings.

Regards,
Richard