Nodes?

I started this post with one question and figured that out so I need to change my question. I can get the nodes to export to a number box to control a gain slider, but something weird happens when I click on the node box. The idea of the installation is that the original sound is split into four pitch ranges played at the same initial volume. As the knob approaches the node the volume is suppose to get louder for each pitch range to highlight that part of the sound. What happens is that I turn on the installation and you can hear the sound as expected, but when I click on the knob in the nodes box the sound immediately switches off until I apporach one of the nodes and what happens is that you only hear that part of the sound. What is happening?