docs(notes): the Sunday KRK run — every taste complaint had a mechanical cause

Densest ear-feedback session logged so far, and the finding that makes it worth
re-reading: not one of PLN's 'it sounds wrong' reactions was a mix problem.

  'muffed'      -> a SynthDef's own 1 kHz Moog lowpass, no cut group, shared bus
  'loud'        -> SuperDirt amplitude is gain^4, so `# gain 2` is +24.1 dB
  'irritating'  -> a literal ascending scale being used as a melody
  'no buttons'  -> CCs that were never mapped
  'weak'        -> the one track the column remap never reached

Includes the gain->dB table and the measured claim that the OPAL set's median
orbit sits at +11.7 dB while four sit at +24.1 dB — and the rule that follows:
when an orbit clips, rank the track's orbits in dB before touching a fader. A
10 dB intra-track outlier is a bug; 2 dB is a mix choice. Feeds #91 and #17.

armada/tide-table/performance_notes.md

@@ -251,3 +251,69 @@ Two changes follow, and they generalise past this take:
 **Ear-gate note for the future:** he heard 3-4 tracks "well" out of a ~21 min take — the
 take has NO track timeline (gig-log gained `k:"track"` the same evening), so his count is
 currently the only boundary data that exists for take 94.
+
+---
+
+## 2026-08-02 — Sunday KRK rehearsal, J-6. Track-by-track, live commentary
+
+The one-before-last KRK-enabled run. PLN narrated as he played, track by track. This is
+the densest ear-feedback session so far and almost every reaction turned out to have a
+mechanical cause underneath it — logged here with the diagnosis, because the pattern
+(*"a taste complaint is often a bug report"*) is the reusable part.
+
+### The verdicts
+
+| track | his words | what it actually was |
+|---|---|---|
+| bombe_dj | *"bombe goes well"* | — |
+| wap | *"not bad it works even the riser!"* | the #33 safe riser passes its first hearing |
+| do_it_right | *"great track banger piece of the intro, 'now we're talking' moment"* | — |
+| do_it_right | *"i feel d5 loud? does it touch the red in ardour? Gosh yes!"* | see gain-staging below |
+| do_it_right | *"definitely the kicks too saturate"* | `# gain 2` = **+24.1 dB**, on a line stacking TWO samples |
+| do_it_right | *"not seeing effects on button 44 nor 43?"* | both genuinely unmapped, not broken |
+| take_5_drops | *"i hear no d7? or its muffed"* | moogBass = a 4-pole lowpass parked at **1 kHz** |
+| take_5_drops | *"arp up... its now a set of 4 muffed short notes LOL"* | `legato 2` over quarter-length arp notes |
+| piment_bresilien | *"banger"* | — |
+| ouais_je_funk | *"d10 scale up is shitty... the scale climb is irritating"* | a stepwise scale run 0 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 |
+| ouais_je_funk | *"effects are cool sound fine its too high-ish on the crush"* | crush floor 3.5 bits + pinned an octave up half the time |
+| ouais_je_funk | *"no buttons 42 43?"* | the clap had no gate at all |
+| lime_tacos | *"actually weak. removed from set"* | cut. 15 tracks, then 14, then 15 with the soundcheck |
+
+### The loudness finding — measured, and it generalises
+
+SuperDirt amplitude is `gain^4`. That exponent is why authored gains read so innocent
+and meter so hot:
+
+| `# gain` | dB |
+|---|---|
+| 1.0 | 0.0 |
+| 1.4 | +11.7 |
+| 1.5 | +14.1 |
+| 1.8 | +20.4 |
+| **2.0** | **+24.1** |
+
+Across the OPAL set the **median orbit sits at +11.7 dB**, and four orbits sit at
++24.1 dB (`gain 2`): piment d10, gimme_acid d1, do_it_right d1, bombe_dj d7.
+do_it_right's kick was a **10 dB outlier against its own bassline** *and* stacked two
+samples on one line, so ~+30 dB into the orbit. Dropped to 1.5.
+
+**The general rule this suggests:** when one orbit clips, do not reach for its fader —
+rank the track's orbits in dB first. A 10 dB intra-track outlier is a bug; a 2 dB one is
+a mix choice. Relates to #91 (record bus ~16 dB hot) and #17.
+
+### The pattern worth keeping
+
+Every single "it sounds wrong" this session had a mechanical cause that was visible in
+the code or the SynthDef, and **none of them were mix problems**:
+
+- *"muffed"* → a synth's own 1 kHz filter, plus no cut group, plus a shared FX bus
+- *"loud"* → `gain^4`
+- *"irritating"* → a literal ascending scale used as a melody
+- *"no buttons"* → unmapped CCs
+- *"weak"* (lime_tacos) → the only track never touched by the column remap, so half its
+  board was in the wrong place while he played it
+
+**So: before adjusting anything by ear, run `pvlint` + read the SynthDef.** Two new lint
+rules came directly out of this session (PV014, PV011-as-error) and immediately found
+the same defect class in `mafia_sans_serif` — which was already carrying PLN's own note
+*"FIXME ACID WEIRD NOT GOOD"* with no known cause.