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Questions about UNIFY
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Topic starter
October 26, 2025 4:30 pm
Hi!
I have win11, and I reproduced the following problem in Reaper,FLStudio and Ableton Live.
I had Unify1 and several libraries, then installed Unify 2. Everything seemed fine, however...
So the problem:
When I load a new preset as a new unify layer, this newly added layer is barely audible.
Even when I start with an init preset with sine wave synth,
then add an empty unify layer that also has sine wave synth, this newly added layer is too quiet.
I have made a screenshot, that shows volume levels - attached.
But the disturbing thing is that this happens all the time when i load another preset as a new unify layer.
For example already have some instruments going and I'd like to load a drum pattern preset - drums are too quiet.
And when I load these drums separately - to overwrite the whole preset - then can I hear their normal volume that is of course not quiet.
So some weirdness going on, and I can reproduce it in 3 daws.
I suppose I'm not the first to let you know about this problem....
Regards
Arpad
Topic starter
October 29, 2025 6:14 am
Some more info:
Also when I have the init empty preset only with the sine wave synth, and I choose 'move into new embedded unify' ,
the volume also becomes much more quiet. Before moving into embedded unify, the volume was -20, and after moving it became -50.
October 29, 2025 8:39 am
I made a test with the Sine Wave Synth and flat max velocity curve: Layer output meter shows -20dB, Master output meter shows -22.5dB. Moving the instrument layer to embed Unify results in an additional 2.5 dB of attenuation (-5 dB in total when passing through the 2 master layers – embedded and main).
October 29, 2025 6:40 pm
I'm not saying that this is not an issue that can happen, but I have tested it and also have had a few Beta testers try to repeat it this morning, and we didn't see such big drops in volume.
When adding empty unify instances we can see that the peak dB will be 2-3 dB less than regular layers with Sinewavesynth - I think this is just related to the embedded instances processing through a master layer which may add a bit of attenuation vs a layer in the main instance - but it's not 20db in reduction for sure.
This appears to be totally normal.
Testing also with the load first layer loading option, loading in new patches, not seeing any low volume issues.
Arpad, you are the first person to have reported this issue - we've been beta testing for a month with 20+ people and this never came up.
I will try to think about how we can verify this - there's a lot going on this week as I have some critical issues to fix/check - but maybe I can give you a test/logging build later. Can you please try and confirm if you are seeing this issue with the standalone build?
Topic starter
October 29, 2025 6:45 pm
Hi! Thanks for investigating. Yes, I have the exact same problem with the standalone.
Currently I'm thinking on maybe I should uninstall Unify 2.... (but I will wait until You say that)
Unify 1 works without problems.
October 29, 2025 9:09 pm
Can you include a screenshot of what the embedded Unify layer looks like? Is there maybe a limiter or maybe your embedded layers automatically have the master volume turned down. Or have you already investigated the Unified layer and all appears normal? I'm not totally sure how those templates work, but it's possible your template has some settings that are causing volumes to be low.
I am unable to reproduce this. I add layers all the time and have not noticed such a big drop in volume.
Ableton Live 10, Omnisphere, Native Instruments (Pianos), Spire, Hammer + Waves, Heavyocity (Ascend), Diva, Alchemy 1.55, Unify
Topic starter
October 29, 2025 9:35 pm
Hi! this is a video (screen capture). after 9:32 I try to add some drums as new layer and there's the problem:
October 29, 2025 10:07 pm
Hi Arpad - I have never experienced anything like this before. Ever! Amazing to see it responding like this to you. The first BPM DRUM patch you called up is just a soft noise layer so I thought that would be the reason, but then you switched patches and the sound is still soft. Did you ever find WHERE you could go to adjust the volume to get it back to full volume? We need to understand WHAT is dropping in volume to know what could have caused it to do that. I've made thousands and thousands of patches at this point and never seen this happen before.
Life is Sound / Sound is Divine
www.pluginguru.com
October 30, 2025 1:01 am
@arpad-bodis Interesting. Could you expand the drum layers of the embedded Unify and adjust the direct send knob to see if that makes a diffrence?
Topic starter
October 30, 2025 3:25 am
Thanks for the feedback. I've tried to change volumes and sends in the new unify layer but the volume kept being very quiet.
Topic starter
October 30, 2025 5:09 am
I've looked around in Unify 2 and these are the strange things I've seen:
low global volume when starting unify, and two "empty unify" in the + menu
see attachment
Topic starter
October 30, 2025 6:16 am
Tonight I will investigate further, but I've tried everything.
I'm planning to do a reinstall, but not sure how:
- without Uninstall Unify2
- Uninstall Unify2 first, then after a system restart Installing it again
....
maybe the second is more safe : )
so later I check this, now I have to go to work
October 30, 2025 1:25 pm
@wavesequencer I found the problem. This happens if the user has set Unify's Global Gain to anything below 0 dB.
Embedded Unify instances should ignore the global gain parameter.
Topic starter
October 30, 2025 5:48 pm
Thanx for the investigation.
Now I have set the global volume to 0 and saved it as default.
Then restarted unify and everything is OK 🙂
getdunne reacted
October 31, 2025 1:56 am
Thanks Shane - will check this in the code ASAP - surprised that slipped through all our testing.
October 31, 2025 3:03 am
OK.. I confirm, and you may find this hard to believe, but I had totally forgotten we have a global gain 'set as default' option menu (right click on the slider) .. another of those hidden features that long time Unify users know about.
The global gain slider doesn't affect embedded instances usually at all, but if the default value had been set to less than 0, then currently there is definitely a bug there where initially the volume of master layers was affected by the saved default.
I have fixed that now. I also realize I need to ensure the reading of this value doesn't happen in plugin instances (since changing it could break prior saved projects) and instead only allow it to be saved and recalled from the plugin state / editor state in that case. One more fix to add.