Generator
A Generator channel doesn't listen to anything — it synthesizes a signal directly (a tone, noise, or a click train) and feeds it into the mix like any other channel: full Gate/EQ/Compressor/FX/Spatial processing, routed anywhere. It's a bench/diagnostic tool aimed at professional users — a known reference signal for checking latency or clock drift through a capture path (e.g. an OBS App-capture round trip), or a calibration/reference tone.
The Generator only produces a signal — it doesn't measure or compare anything. Checking round-trip delay or drift between what it generates and what captured it is on you, using an external waveform editor or the app's own meters as a rough guide.
Adding one
Channels (menu bar) → + Add → Generator — the picker itself notes it's Advanced-only. It's Advanced-only to configure: Simple mode's Channel Manager shows a short note pointing you to Advanced → Setup tab rather than a dead-end control.
A Free-tier Generator channel can be created and fully configured, it just stays silent until you upgrade. See Accounts & Premium.
Waveform types
SETUP tab — pick one from the dropdown:
- Sine — a pure tone at an adjustable frequency (a plain number field, for landing on an exact value like 440.00 Hz — not a slider).
- Pink noise — equal energy per octave, the standard "even-sounding" reference noise.
- White noise — equal energy per frequency (brighter-sounding than pink).
- Click / pulse train — a short, crisp tick repeating at an adjustable interval (in ms, also a plain number field).
Changing waveform, frequency, interval, or level while it's running is a live, click-free tweak — never a reinit or audible glitch.
Level
Three quick-select chips set a calibrated reference level and reset the channel's own fader to 0 dB in the same click, so the button you pressed always matches what actually comes out:
- -18 dBFS · EBU R68
- -20 dBFS · SMPTE
- -14 dBFS · Streaming
There's no separate freeform level slider — use the channel's regular fader for everyday volume, same as any other channel.
Start / Stop
The HOME tab shows a live preview of the current waveform (a synthesized preview matching your settings, not literal engine samples) with a Play/Stop button. This is the same as muting/unmuting the channel — a stopped and a muted Generator sound identical — so there's no separate "is it running" state to lose track of.
Channel strip
A Generator channel is a normal strip — fader, mute, solo, icon — like any type without a dedicated transport control. Its type badge reads GEN on the mixer strip (the full word "Generator" would crowd out the EQ/FX/SP buttons next to it); every other surface — Setup tab, Home tab, Channel Manager — shows the full word.
In Simple mode
There's no dedicated Simple configuration surface for a Generator — by design, it's an Advanced-only tool. A Generator's sound card in Simple still carries the full Gate/Comp/EQ/3D Surround/Effects chain and fader like any other card (EQ-ing or adding reverb to a test tone is entirely legitimate), with a small ADV badge next to its name as a reminder that its actual signal is configured in Advanced.