Boosting line level input signal

T

The Spangle

New member
I have an Alesis multimix 8 usb 2.0 fx which has 4 mic/line inputs and 4 line inputs.

The mic/line inputs are great. I have amps and vocals mic'd through them, and I get good signal adjusting the gain and volume for each channel.

The line level inputs (#5 - #8) appear to be almost useless. They are unbalanced TRS inputs. If I plug a keyboard (the mono L/R output) into a line input and then boost that channel's input volume to the max, and boost the master volume to the max, and have the keys turned up to 11, I still get a weedy signal outputted to my DAW. It's way too low for recording, and much much lower than the 4 mic inputs which have balanced XLR options.

Should I just accept these are useless and upgrade at some point? Or is there a (cheap) line level amp I can add to the chain to boost the signal before the mixer?

I'm searching and not really finding conclusive information. I understand that mic inputs need the extra boost, but it seems that line level needs at least some right?
 
Keyboard outputs are generally more in the range of instrument level than pro line level. They may require some sort of additional boost to work with your line inputs.
 
If you only have one keyboard going at a time or you're okay with mixing them before you Alesis mixer then something like this might help:

Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602 | Sweetwater.com

It's got a sensitivity switch on each input that may make it work better with instrument level signal. It will boost your keyboard's signal to something like pro line level. No doubt there are better 1RU mixers than this.
 
mixsit said:
About any D/I box. Converts it over to XLR to a mic pre.
Or, lots of preamps have D/I's that range in inst-to-line level.
Click to expand...
Problem is all the XLR inputs are used up for mics, as mentioned. Again, I wonder, for the budget home recordist, why bother adding line level inputs if they are essentially useless to the target audience.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
If you only have one keyboard going at a time or you're okay with mixing them before you Alesis mixer then something like this might help:

Behringer Eurorack Pro RX1602 | Sweetwater.com

It's got a sensitivity switch on each input that may make it work better with instrument level signal. It will boost your keyboard's signal to something like pro line level. No doubt there are better 1RU mixers than this.
Click to expand...

Thanks I'll look into it, though first impressions tell me at $150 I may as well start putting money into a USB interface with more XLR inputs.
 
The Spangle said:
Problem is all the XLR inputs are used up for mics, as mentioned. Again, I wonder, for the budget home recordist, why bother adding line level inputs if they are essentially useless to the target audience.
Click to expand...
Sorry I missed that.
One other then. Have you tried adding gain in the DAW? If the signal and noise are healthy enough going in a low record level might not even be a problem. Adding gain in the app is a (usually) harmless way to trim up even very low tracks.
 
What kind of keyboard are you talking about? I have a Yamaha Portable Grand Piano thingy and plug the headphone out into my Alesis USB 16 2.0 line ins and it very hot (input level at zero and faders about 25%) and it's got lots of volume. Same thing with my headphone to USB interface - signal is more than enough. Could be your line ins are not working - did you try some other device into these line ins like an iPod or something?
 
The Spangle said:
Again, I wonder, for the budget home recordist, why bother adding line level inputs if they are essentially useless to the target audience.
Click to expand...
As BSG said, the TRS outs on your keyboard are probably not Line Level. You should plug them into an Instrument jack or the Mic/line and see if you get the gain you want there.

I found that out with my own keyboard. I now plug it into my instrument jacks.
 
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