The Monitor Mixer Page is essentially a collection of volume level faders, audio level (or ‘peak’) meters, and solo/mute controls. For each mixer output and input channel there is one of each: a volume fader, a peak meter, a solo control, and a mute control.
LEVEL FADERS: Each volume fader may be controlled by dragging the fader ‘handle’ vertically with the mouse, or by clicking on the ‘handle’ to make it active and then adjusting it with the up/down cursor keys of your computer keyboard. Because the mixer has no gain, these faders only attenuate (reduce) the signal levels. The highest setting is 0dB, or ‘Unity Gain.’ The default fader setting is the quietest setting, –144dB, which essentially mutes the audio. A pair of level faders may be "ganged" so that both channels may be adjusted together as a stereo pair.
Also, at the top of each fader and meter is a fader level "fine adjustment" control. Clicking on the small "up" and "down" arrows will adjust the corresponding fader setting in 0.5dB increments. Next to each fine adjustment control is a numerical fader readout that is always current and active.
PEAK METERS: Each peak meter indicates an audio signal level in "dB relative to full-scale." This means that a full-scale signal is referred to as "0 dB" and a signal that is 12dB "quieter" than full-scale is referred to as "-12dB." The meters are vertically color-coded into three sections: green, yellow and red. The green section represents a safe zone, ranging from approximately -48dB to -12dB. Most audio signals should appropriately fill this section of the meter. The yellow section ranges from -12dB to -3dB as the signal approaches a ‘hotter’ level. For best capture resolution, recording in this area is both safe and advised. The red section of the meter ranges from -3dB to 0dB. On the input level meters, a 0dB condition indicates overload and audio clipping may occur. Therefore be careful to adjust the incoming audio levels so that they do not peak in the red section too long (you might use the monitoring capability of the Delta 1010LT to let your ears be the judge). On all output level meters, 0dB indicates full-scale output. Unlike the inputs, clipping is impossible on the outputs because of the 36-bit resolution built into the mixer hardware.