I recently made a poll about frequency increments. This post is specifically to make the case for why the official increment of any dB knob, mouse move, or any other method of moving 1 value upward of volume…you stop using 100ths of a db (.01db) and stick to a minimum value of .1db. I will make a great case for this and you’re going to understand why very quickly, I think!
Reason #1: Most humans hear loudness in 1db increments. It would be hard, if not impossible, to hear a .2db increment, let alone a .1db increment. Yet I’m still willing to make this the minimum, which I will explain why in a minute.
Reason #2: Helps all developers establish a universal standard in how many steps/values a dB knob takes per dB. This is helpful for reasons I’m sure you can imagine.
Reason #3: MIDI controllers would have an easier time syncing the exact dB value, when you’re scripting and displaying text values on your knobs based on degrees that might not quite line up with the DAW. In other words, the value on the screen would match the value on your controller much more closely.
Reason #4: We are using 301 degrees on the dial for most dB and frequency dials. Not 300. It’s 301. 150 negative degrees from 0, 150 positive degrees from 0, and then 1 degree for zero itself.
When you have a -/+15db dB knob like an SSL channel strip, and you go in .1dB increments, you have 301 possible values. That’s 301 degrees - 1 value per degree.
We need to start thinking about dB values as degrees and not digits. How many degrees from zero. -37 degrees from 0 would be 3.7dB; you get the idea. You would never have to wonder what the dB value is at that position. It’s also easier to think about 0 as a degree, rather than a digit, when we’re talking about dB steps, since 0 can always be the off position. 1 degree is always .1. 2 degrees is always .2 in whichever direction the knob is being turned.
Reason #5 (final reason): It gives us code that we can share easily. If you know that you’ll always have 301 maximum steps for a dB knob, the code becomes much more standardized when everybody is dividing by 301 to calculate step amounts from the range of max values (that type of thing).