Avoiding mixing overload / Re: [PD] +~?

[Andrew (Andy) W. Schmeder]

> My guess is that there is a tradeoff between keeping the final RMS output
> the same as that of an individual signal (1/RMS-sum) vs an absolute
> guarantee that there is zero chance of clipping
> (1/sum-of-peak-amplitudes).


Assuming our n-input-signals have amplitude constrained to [-1, 1],

max(RMS) = 1 => max(RMS-sum) = n 

So 1/RMS-sum >= 1/Peak-sum.

1/Peak-sum is guarenteed to never clip... but at the cost of very low
amplitude for single voices.

RMS is computed with a moving average which means it dynamically adjusts
with the signal.  However this implies latency which means that clipping
is still possible.

You can calculate exactly how much error there will be by analyzing the
input signals (e.g. distribution type or by sinusoidal components).


andy