[LAU] Level Matching

[Paul Davis]

On Tue, 2008-11-04 at 14:08 +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> Paul Davis wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-11-04 at 11:25 +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> >
> >   
> >> Just out of interest how much processor power would it take to normalise 
> >> on the fly?
> >>     
> >
> > it doesn't need a CPU, it would need a time machine to travel into the
> > future to measure the loudest sample still to come.
> >
> >
> >   
> Even if we are talking about a static collection of audio files?

that doesn't meet my understanding of the term "on the fly".

look, normalization is a simple process: find the loudest sample. get
the ratio of its value to the maximum possible sample value. multiply
every sample by this ratio. done. no shortcuts, but also no complexity.

what you seem to be after is a compressor, which will keep the level of
the output within some defined range. entirely different beastie.