Wavelab has the ability to get the Peak value for any track. I assume Cubase does this as well internally.
It should be possible to create a Macro with PLE where one is able to
a) Select tracks
b) Get the peak audio level for each of the selected tracks
c) Scale up/down the Gain or fader level for the selected tracks.
This would make gain staging go a lot faster.
In fact, it should be possible (if the SB gods could allow for chaining PLE macros) to do a complete ‘Mix Setup’ in less than a minute:
Auto-Assign Colors
Route Tracks to various Groups/FX/VCAs
Set initial gain/fader levels
Hide track types
Show elements of the strips we prefer.
Etc.
I’m sure we all spend a LOT of time when starting a project just doing ‘bookkeeping’ of that sort. But since we all tend to have a ‘standard’ setup, that should be completely automatable.
I can hear people in the peanut gallery say, ‘that’s what templates are for!’. But in the world I live in, people send one raw projects so you -can’t- use a template. Also, if yer composing, a LOT of the time you don’t know what your template is going to be ahead of time. You start with an idea and then it changes direction. You don’t want to start composing inside the prison of a ‘template’. You want to start laying down some ideas and then be able to hit a button and have it ‘formatted’ to yer taste.