Studio Glossary & Alphabetical Index

Canonical definitions of Cave Recorder terminology, Take vs. Pass disambiguation, and an alphabetical subject index.

This chapter defines the canonical studio terminology used across every console faceplate, timeline lane, session file, and workflow in Cave Recorder (caverec), followed by the complete Alphabetical Index of the manual.

9.1 Take vs. Pass Disambiguation (Quick Guide)#

Traditional desktop digital audio workstations use the word "Take" for both an entire song recording and an overdubbed layer on a single track, causing constant confusion during band rehearsals. Cave Recorder enforces a strict four-tier studio hierarchy where Session-level Takes and Track-level Passes are completely distinct concepts:

Project (Band / Artist Workspace, e.g., GF)
 └── Session (Rehearsal Night or Tracking Day, e.g., GF_20261020-1)
      └── Take (Complete Song Run-Through Starting at 00:00:00.000)
           └── Pass (Single-Track Stem Inside That Take: PASS 01 / OD 02)

9.2 Studio Glossary#

The alphabetical definitions below cover every core studio concept, signal-processing stage, console switch, and workflow term in Cave Recorder, with direct links to the chapters where each topic is covered in depth.

12-Band Parametric EQ (2:12B EQ)#

Zero-latency 12-band precision state-variable parametric equalizer (B1 through B12) available in the 8-slot processor rack of every Input Track (CH01..CH18) and Subgroup Bus (SUB 1..SUB 16). Each band provides -24.0 dB to +24.0 dB gain across 20 Hz to 20 kHz, variable Q (0.10 to 18.00), and seven selectable filter shapes: peaking Bell (BELL), Low Shelf (LSHF), High Shelf (HSHF), High-Pass Filter (HPF), Low-Pass Filter (LPF), surgical Notch (NTCH), and Spectral Tilt (TILT). See Section 5.3.

30-Minute Retroactive Capture (RAM / RETRO)#

Continuous background audio capture system that retains the most recent 30 minutes of live 32-bit floating-point audio across all record-armed (R) input channels in system memory whenever the green RAM button is lit in the Top Transport Deck. Clicking RETRO (or pressing SHIFT + R) flushes the rolling 30-minute memory to disk as a new numbered Session Take (Take<NNN>) so spontaneous jams played while the transport was stopped are never lost. See Section 1.1.2, Section 2.2.3, and Section 3.2.

8-Slot Processor Rack#

Reorderable eight-slot insert processing chain (Slots 1..8) on every Input Track and Subgroup Bus. Holds Cave Recorder's zero-latency built-in processors (2:12B EQ, 3:VCA CMP, 4:AUX SND movable send tap) alongside third-party .clap audio plugins (1:CLAP). Slots can be reordered live during playback by dragging their :: handle or clicking ^ / v with clickless crossfading, or bypassed individually via B. See Section 4.1 and Section 5.1.3.

Active Comp Lane (ACTIVE COMP LANE)#

The single Pass Lane currently selected for disk playback on a track inside the active Take. Highlighted in amber-copper waveform color with a green star badge (★ PASS 01 or ★ OD 02) in WAVEFORM TIMELINE (CMD/CTRL + 2) and reflected on the channel strip's gold pass indicator badge on the Mix Console. See Section 3.4 and Section 6.2.2.

Analog VCA Compressor (3:VCA CMP)#

Zero-latency voltage-controlled amplifier dynamics processor included in every Input Track and Subgroup Bus 8-slot rack. Provides adjustable Threshold (-60.0 dB to 0.0 dB), Ratio (1.0:1 to 20.0:1 with 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, and 20:1 presets), Attack (0.1 ms to 100.0 ms), Release (10.0 ms to 1000.0 ms), Makeup Gain (0.0 dB to +24.0 dB), a 90 Hz Sidechain High-Pass Filter (SC HPF, shortcut H in Channel Inspector), Stereo Link (LINK), New York parallel blend (MIX 50%), and a real-time Gain Reduction (GR) trace. See Section 5.4.

Audio Settings Modal (AUDIO SETTINGS)#

Hardware configuration dialog opened via AUDIO SETTINGS in the Top Deck (CMD + , on macOS, CTRL + , on Windows and Linux). Selects the physical input and output audio interface, sample rate (44.1, 48.0, 88.2, or 96.0 kHz), hardware buffer size (32 to 2048 frames), and runs the automated hardware impulse loopback latency calibration (Measure Latency). See Section 2.2 and Section 2.3.

Aux Return (AUX 1 REVERB & AUX 2 TAPE DLY)#

Two dedicated, solo-safe stereo effect return strips on the right side of the Mix Console feeding the Master Bus:

• AUX 1 REVERB: Zero-latency acoustic convolution reverb (EMT 140 Plate, Studio Room, Chamber, Spring) with Input Low-Cut (LC), Pre-Delay (PD, 0 to 200 ms), Decay Time (DCY, 0.20 to 12.00 s), and WET blend toggle.
• AUX 2 TAPE DLY: Capstan magnetic tape echo processor with Wow & Flutter (WOW), High-Frequency Damping (DMP), Delay Time (TM, 1 to 2000 ms), Feedback (FB), and Stereo Ping-Pong (PP) widening.

See Section 4.3.2 and Section 5.5.

Aux Send (RVB & DLY / PRE, EQ, PST)#

Per-channel and per-subgroup stereo send level controls (-inf to +12.0 dB) feeding AUX 1 REVERB (RVB) and AUX 2 TAPE DLY (DLY), paired with a 3-way pickoff tap selector: PRE (pre-insert and pre-fader for independent cue sends), EQ (post-EQ and pre-fader), or PST (post-fader and post-mute, scaling wet effects naturally with fader moves). See Section 4.2.3.

Base Pass (Rec001 / PASS 01)#

The initial multitrack audio stem captured on a record-armed channel strip when a Session Take is originally recorded from 00:00:00.000 with Overdub Mode (OD) turned off. Stored on disk in <TakeFolder>/rec/<SessionID>_Take<NNN>_<CC>-<TrackName>_Rec001_<Stamp>.wav and displayed as PASS 01 (BASE PASS) in the channel strip header and Pass Lanes. See Section 1.2 and Section 6.2.

Channel Inspector (CHANNEL INSPECTOR)#

Full-screen single-channel and Subgroup Bus processing workbench (CMD + 3 on macOS, CTRL + 3 on Windows and Linux). Combines a full-height channel strip on the left with an expanded 12-band Parametric EQ and Dual-Trace 4096-point RTA, an expanded Analog VCA Compressor with scrolling Gain Reduction trace and dedicated rotary knobs, a multi-bus output routing popover (OUTPUT BUSES), and bottom Pass Lane comping controls. See Section 5.1.2.

CLAP Plugin (1:CLAP)#

Third-party audio effect plugin conforming to the open CLAP (Clever Audio Plug-in, .clap) standard, hostable in any of the eight reorderable slots (Slots 1..8) on any Input Track or Subgroup Bus with native floating GUI support, automatic Plugin Delay Compensation (PDC), and one-click Low-Latency Monitoring bypass. See Section 5.7.

Cloud Sync (CLOUD)#

Built-in two-way Google Drive synchronization engine for backing up Sessions and collaborating across bandmates' computers. Supports two transfer tiers (MIXES for fast synchronization of manifests, Snapshots, and .flac/.mp3/.wav Prints and Mixdowns, and FULL for complete raw rec/*.wav multitrack stems), automatic Print conversion (AUTO-FLAC ON UPLOAD and AUTO-MP3 ON UPLOAD), federated shared project linking (+ Link Remote Project...), exclusive session write-locking (Read-Only Preview), and zero-loss offline conflict merging via Snapshots. See Section 7.5.

Cycle Loop (⇄)#

Master Transport mode (C or clicking ⇄ in the Top Deck) that loops playback or overdub recording continuously between the START and END boundaries of the active Take Range (R001, R003, ...). See Section 3.4 and Section 6.3.2.

Dual-Trace Spectrum Analyzer (RTA)#

High-resolution 4096-point real-time acoustic spectrum analyzer displayed behind the 12-Band Parametric EQ curve in both the Mix Console Upper Well 2 and the CHANNEL INSPECTOR view. Plots the pre-EQ input spectrum (darker shaded trace) and post-EQ output spectrum (bright emerald trace) simultaneously from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. See Section 5.3.2.

Input Monitor (I)#

Per-track console switch (I on channel strips, MON in Channel Inspector, shortcut SHIFT + I on the inspected track in Mix Console) that routes the live physical hardware input (IN 01..IN 18) through the channel's 8-slot processor rack and fader even while transport playback is rolling, allowing musicians to rehearse or monitor live overdubs through console EQ, compression, and reverb. See Section 4.2.4.

Input Trim (TRM)#

Digital pre-insert gain control (-24.0 dB to +24.0 dB, default 0.0 dB) located at the top of every Input Track and Subgroup Bus strip. On Input Tracks, TRM sits upstream of both the raw multitrack stem recorder (rec/) and the 8-slot processor rack so you can fine-tune preamp gain staging before stems hit disk. On Subgroup Buses, TRM gain-stages the summed multi-channel signal entering the subgroup's SUB RACK. See Section 4.1 and Section 4.2.2.

Keymap View (KEYMAP)#

Interactive keyboard shortcut reference and customization workspace (CMD + 6 on macOS, CTRL + 6 on Windows and Linux). Lists all 58 studio actions across seven scopes with live substring search, interactive Reverse-Search by Shortcut (FIND BY SHORTCUT:), scope filter pills, inline key-chord capture (ASSIGN / APPLY), scope clash detection, operating-system conflict warnings (OS WARN), and automatic persistence to keymap.json. See Section 8.3.

Live Stereo Print (2-TRK / Print001)#

Real-time 2-track post-Master-Bus stereo recording captured concurrently alongside raw pre-fader multitrack stems whenever a Take is recorded with 2-TRK enabled on the MST MASTER BUS strip. Written to <TakeFolder>/mix/<SessionID>_Take<NNN>_Print<NNN>_<Stamp>.wav with automatic Plugin Delay Compensation (PDC) latency trimming, and convertible in one click (FLAC PRINT, MP3 PRINT, FLAC ALL PRINTS, or MP3 ALL PRINTS) to a lossless 24-bit .flac file or a 320 kbps CBR .mp3 file linked into <ProjectTag>/_Mixes/ for immediate post-rehearsal band listening. See Section 1.1.3, Section 4.1.1, and Section 7.2.

Low-Latency Monitoring#

Top Deck monitoring mode (Low-Latency Monitoring in Row 2 of the Top Deck) that temporarily bypasses high-latency lookahead CLAP plugins on record-armed (R) live monitoring paths and their downstream buses during overdubbing, dropping foldback latency to zero internal samples while keeping full Plugin Delay Compensation active on unarmed playback tracks. See Section 5.7.3.

Markers & Ranges (M001 / R001)#

Sample-accurate timeline cue flags and bounded time spans stored per Take and managed in both the WAVEFORM TIMELINE (MKR and RNG lanes) and the dedicated MARKERS & RANGES workspace (CMD/CTRL + 5). Standalone cue markers (M005, ...) are dropped on the fly with M and navigated via [, ], SHIFT + [ (HOME), and SHIFT + ] (END). Ranges (R001, R003, ...) are bounded by start (K) and end (L) markers for Cycle Loop playback (⇄) and non-destructive Take extraction (NEW TAKE). See Section 6.3.

Master Bus (MST MASTER BUS)#

The final stereo summing strip on the right edge of the Mix Console, summing all Subgroup Buses, direct Input Tracks, and Stereo Aux Returns. Incorporates a built-in Master Tape Saturation stage (TAPE with DRIVE and WARM), a Master Bus Glue VCA Compressor (COMP), a Lookahead Brickwall Limiter (LIM with THR and CEIL), the live 2-TRK Print recorder arm switch, independent FLAC and MP3 format toggles with a one-click BOUNCE offline Mixdown trigger, CLR CLIP, Master Fader, and 40-segment stereo Peak/RMS meter. See Section 4.3.3.

Mix Console (MIX CONSOLE)#

Primary studio workspace view (CMD + 1 on macOS, CTRL + 1 on Windows and Linux) combining the four Upper Inspector Wells (8-Slot Rack & Tape, 12-Band EQ & RTA, VCA Compressor & GR, and Mini-Timeline) with the lower bank of 18 Input Track strips (CH01..CH18), stereo Subgroup Buses (DRUM BUS, INST BUS), Stereo Aux Returns (AUX 1 REVERB, AUX 2 TAPE DLY), and the MST MASTER BUS. See Chapter 4.

Multi-Mic Phase Alignment (ALIGN ALL & Φ)#

Automatic acoustic arrival-time and polarity correlation processor that analyzes phase relationships across multi-miked instruments (such as a drum kit or dual-miked guitar/bass cabinet) relative to a timing anchor channel (0us) using sub-sample bandpass (150 Hz to 6 kHz) GCC-PHAT cross-correlation on recorded .wav stems or rolling capture memory. Clicking ALIGN ALL in the Top Deck (or Φ on an individual strip) calculates and engages sub-sample time delay (0 to 50,000 us / 0.00 to +50.00 ms) and 180-degree polarity inversion (Ø) to eliminate comb filtering, with single-step Undo/Redo support and instant global comparison via PHASE: ALIGN / PHASE: BYP. See Section 3.3 and Section 5.6.

Offline Stereo Mixdown (Mix001)#

Faster-than-real-time stereo render of an entire Take processed from 00:00:00.000 through the complete Mix Console signal chain (including updated fader balances, 8-slot inserts, Subgroup/Aux buses, Master Bus processing, and active Pass Lane selections). Triggered by selecting FLAC and/or MP3 and clicking BOUNCE on the Master Bus, saved to <TakeFolder>/mix/<SessionID>_Take<NNN>_Mix<NNN>_<Stamp>.<flac|mp3> (with a Xing/Info seek header on .mp3 files for web browser scrubbing), and linked into <ProjectTag>/_Mixes/. See Section 7.2.3.

Overdub Mode (OD)#

Transport recording mode toggled via the red OD button in the Top Deck (or pressing O). When OD is off, pressing Record (R) creates a brand-new t = 0 Session Take. When OD is latched (illuminated red), pressing Record (R) plays back the existing tracks of the currently active Take while recording a new track-level Overdub Pass (Rec002-OD, OD 02) onto armed channels with automatic roundtrip loopback latency compensation. See Section 3.4 and Section 6.2.

Overdub Pass (Rec002-OD / OD 02)#

A layered or replacement track-level recording captured inside an existing Session Take when Overdub Mode (OD) is enabled on the transport bar. Saved as <TakeFolder>/rec/<SessionID>_Take<NNN>_<CC>-<TrackName>_Rec<MMM>-OD_<Stamp>.wav and displayed as OD 02, OD 03, and higher inside that track's expandable Pass Lanes. See Section 1.2 and Section 6.2.

Pass#

Any individual audio recording on a single channel strip belonging to a specific Session Take, encompassing both the initial Base Pass (Rec001 / PASS 01) captured when the Take was first created and any subsequent Overdub Passes (Rec002-OD / OD 02, OD 03, ...) recorded into that Take. See Section 9.1.

Pass Lanes (PASSES)#

Expandable vertical sub-lanes under an Input Track in WAVEFORM TIMELINE (CMD/CTRL + 2, expanded with E and collapsed with SHIFT + E) and CHANNEL INSPECTOR (CMD/CTRL + 3, toggled with E or PASSES). Pass Lanes display the track's PASS 01 Base Pass and all OD 02..N Overdub Passes inside the active Take for one-click comp promotion (Use PASS 01 / ★ OD 02), per-pass muting (M), and non-destructive deletion (Del). Track-level overdub lanes are always called Pass Lanes and are never called "Take Lanes". See Section 6.2.2.

Plugin Delay Compensation (PDC)#

Automatic sample-accurate delay compensation engine that aligns parallel tracks, Subgroup Buses, and Aux paths whenever a third-party CLAP plugin introduces internal lookahead buffering. Displayed live in Row 2 of the Top Deck (PDC: N smp (X.XX ms @ 48 kHz)) and detailed per channel in the Latency & PDC Transparency Breakdown popover. See Section 5.7.2.

Polarity Invert (Ø)#

Console switch (Ø, shortcut SHIFT + P on the inspected strip in Mix Console) that flips positive and negative waveform excursions by 180° (illuminates cyan when active). Used to correct phase cancellation on bottom snare microphones, rear open-back guitar cabinet microphones, or inverted balanced XLR cables, and set automatically during ALIGN ALL. See Section 4.2.2 and Section 5.6.

Present Stash (A/B PRESENT STASH & RETURN TO PRESENT)#

Automatic working-memory safeguard that preserves your live, unsaved Mix Console state the instant you click AUDITION SNAP <NNN> in the SESSION REEL view (CMD/CTRL + 4). While in Audition Mode, you can step across any number of historical Snapshots, click A/B PRESENT STASH for clickless real-time comparison against your working mix, or press BACKSPACE (RETURN TO PRESENT) to restore your exact working console state with zero lost fader moves. See Section 7.3.2.

Project & Project Tag (PROJECT / _Mixes/)#

Top-level workspace representing a band, artist, or musical venture, identified by a unique 1-to-8 character uppercase alphanumeric Project Tag (GF, TEST, MISC) and stored at <LibraryRoot>/<ProjectTag>/. Managed in the PROJECT modal (CMD/CTRL + O), each Project contains all of that band's Sessions plus a flat _Mixes/ index folder containing relative links to all active .flac, .mp3, and .wav Prints and Mixdowns across every Session. See Section 1.2, Section 2.4, and Section 7.4.

Roundtrip Loopback Calibration (Measure Latency)#

Built-in hardware impulse measurement tool inside the AUDIO SETTINGS modal (CMD/CTRL + ,) that transmits a calibration pulse out a selected physical output jack (Out 20 or Out 1) over a patch cable into an analog input jack to measure exact physical converter, ADAT, and USB/Thunderbolt roundtrip delay in samples. The measured offset is automatically applied as negative record-offset compensation on all subsequent Overdub Passes (OD). See Section 2.3.

Session & 08:00 Rollover Rule#

A single rehearsal evening, jam night, or studio tracking day within a Project (<ProjectTag>/<SessionID>[_<SessionTag>]/), defining the shared 18-channel hardware patch, strip names, bus topology, and console settings across all Takes recorded during that gathering. Cave Recorder rolls the session calendar date over at 08:00 local time so Takes recorded after midnight (01:30) remain grouped under the same evening session date (YYYYMMDD) as recordings started at 21:00. See Section 1.2 and Section 7.4.2.

Session Reel (SESSION REEL)#

Session management dashboard (CMD + 4 on macOS, CTRL + 4 on Windows and Linux) containing the session metadata and cloud sync header, the reversible Undo/Redo history bar (UNDO, REDO, COMPACT TAIL, SNAP MANUAL), the searchable TAKES CATALOG (Take loading, starring, tagging, FLAC PRINT and MP3 PRINT encoding, soft-delete trash management, and latency offset re-application), and the SNAPSHOTS & PRESENT STASH table. See Chapter 7.

Session Template (SAVE TEMPLATE / MicAndGuitar001)#

Reusable console configuration file (<LibraryRoot>/.caverec/templates/<Name>.json) saved via the SAVE TEMPLATE button in Row 2 of the Top Deck and selectable when creating a new Session in the PROJECT modal. Cave Recorder seeds two built-in studio templates on first launch: MicAndGuitar001 (the default 2-channel singer-songwriter template with Channel 1 Mic feeding an -8.0 dB Post-Fader Reverb send and Channel 2 Guitar, both with 80 Hz high-pass filters) and GuitarBassDrumTrio001 (an 11-channel band template with Guitar Bus, Drum Bus, and parallel Drum Crush Bus subgroups). Templates store all channel strip names, physical input bindings, Subgroup Bus assignments, 8-slot processor racks, EQ curves, and compressor settings while excluding recorded audio Takes and undo history. See Section 2.4.3.

Snapshot (SNAPS)#

Immutable point-in-time capture of the entire Mix Console state, active Pass Lane selections, and compact undo history stored in <SessionFolder>/snapshots/<SessionID>_<NNN>_<Timestamp>.json. Created manually via SNAP MANUAL (CMD/CTRL + S), automatically after every normal recording stop ([POST-REC]), or every 20 minutes during active editing ([AUTO]), and auditioned losslessly via Present Stash. See Section 7.3.

Standby Comp Lane (STANDBY COMP LANE)#

Any recorded Pass Lane (PASS 01 Base Pass or OD 02..N Overdub Pass) on a track that is not currently selected as the ACTIVE COMP LANE. Rendered in slate-grey waveform color with a clickable Use PASS <NN> or Use OD <NN> button that promotes the standby pass to active playback immediately without audio clicks. See Section 6.2.2.

Stem Bounce (Bounce001)#

Faster-than-real-time offline post-processor render of individual Input Track channels (<CC>-<TrackName>_Bounce<NNN>.wav / .flac) and/or stereo Subgroup Buses (Bus<BB>-<BusName>_Bounce<NNN>.wav / .flac) written into <TakeFolder>/bounce/. Bounced stems start at exact sample 0 (00:00:00.000) with all insert processing, phase alignment, and Plugin Delay Compensation applied for delivery to external remixing or mastering engineers. See Section 7.2.3.

Subgroup Bus (SUB 1 DRUM BUS & SUB 2 INST BUS)#

Stereo summing bus strip (SUB 1 through SUB 16) that combines routed Input Tracks into a shared stereo processing chain with its own Input Trim (TRM), Stereo Link (LINK), SEL inspection button, reorderable 8-Slot SUB RACK (Tape Saturation, 12-Band EQ with Dual-Trace RTA, Analog VCA Bus Compressor, and CLAP plugins), stereo Aux Sends (RVB and DLY), stereo Balance (BAL), Mute (M), Solo (S), and logarithmic stereo fader. See Section 4.3.1.

Take (TAKE 001)#

A complete, self-contained multitrack song recording or rehearsal jam captured within a Session (<SessionFolder>/Take<NNN>_<Stamp>[_<TakeTag>]/), starting at its own independent timeline origin (00:00:00.000, sample 0). Pressing Record (R) with Overdub Mode (OD) off always creates a new numbered Take (Take 001, Take 002, ...) and switches the active timeline to that Take. Two different Takes are never stacked on top of one another in the same timeline view. See Section 1.1.1 and Section 9.1.

Take Splitting (SPLIT TAKE & NEW TAKE)#

Non-destructive editing operations in WAVEFORM TIMELINE (CMD/CTRL + 2) and MARKERS & RANGES (CMD/CTRL + 5) that divide a continuous recording at the Playhead (SPLIT TAKE), extract from a standalone marker to the end (NEW TAKE -> END), or extract a bounded range (NEW TAKE) into a brand-new t = 0 Session Take while preserving all original .wav files, Pass Lanes, and phase alignment offsets with full Undo support. See Section 6.4.

Tape Saturation (TAPE)#

Zero-latency analog magnetic tape modeling stage built into every Input Track, Subgroup Bus, and the Master Bus. Models transformer core warmth, magnetic hysteresis soft-clipping, AC bias asymmetry, and high-frequency head self-erasure via six continuous controls: Input Drive (DRV), Harmonic Warmth (WRM), Tape Bias (BIAS), High-Cut Roll-Off (HC), Output Trim (OUT), and Parallel Wet/Dry Mix (MIX). See Section 5.2.

Waveform Timeline (WAVEFORM TIMELINE)#

Multi-track waveform editing and overdub comping workspace (CMD + 2 on macOS, CTRL + 2 on Windows and Linux) focused on the currently active t = 0 Session Take. Features three-tier waveform detail (3-TIER LOD), one-handed 2D ruler scrub-zooming, expandable Pass Lanes (PASSES, E / SHIFT + E), dedicated Marker (MKR) and Range (RNG) lanes, Playhead/Cursor lock (LOCK PH/CUR), and non-destructive Take splitting (SPLIT TAKE / NEW TAKE). See Chapter 6.

9.3 Alphabetical Index#

The alphabetical index below lists every studio topic, console control, processor parameter, keyboard shortcut, workflow procedure, and glossary definition across Chapters 1 through 9, with direct section links and exact PDF page numbers.