What is making the digitised sound?

E

ellocheeky

New member
I have a real burning question that would solve all my life's problems if answered...

So here's my situation...
I have a volca bass... when I play it directly through my amp (yamaha ax-400) it sounds very alive and detailed.
However when I record it on to my computer (using the citronic ac-1 - a £30 usb a/d converter) then play it through the exact same amp (via the inbuilt soundcard on a 13" macbook pro retina) it sounds very noticeably digitised. The detail has been lost and it basically just sounds crap. No doubt this phenomenon is a product of both the crap usb a/d and the mac's dac... but does either one in particular play a more significant role?? It's hard for me to test this...

Basically I'm wondering whether its worth upgrading the citronic to a rega a2d mini for sampling vinyl and this is the best test of how much my signal chain modifies my sound that I could come up with, I just can't separate the effect of the a/d from the dac.

I hope this makes some sense!
 
I mean I don't have an issue as such, and "sounds like crap" I meant relative to the sound of the volca being played straight through the amp. The sound is just missing something after being sent through the mac and I want to know how much part the a/d converter plays in that so as to consider whether it's worth getting a better one for recording vinyl.
 
"Why are you using the Mac's soundcard output rather than the output on the Citronic? "

didn't really think about it tbh. What's your rationale for using the citronic output?
 
Is the Citronic set to line rather than phono?

Am I right in saying that the Volca only has a headphone output?
If so, that's not really ideal, although I doubt you should be able to successfully blind test regardless.

Did you have to turn the output volume down in order to record without clipping?
If so that'd mean the signal hitting the amp, from computer, wouldn't be as hot. That could conceivably sound different..maybe?
 
Rega is a great company, but you don't want a fono preamp. The Volca need 3.5mm stereo out of the headphone jack to line in jack on the amp, or, A/D.

Behringer's basic usb interface should do this kind of work fine - USD 30. So, you can digitize the bass along with your next volca together.
 
I'm using my Volca FM for BASS as it sounds quicker than Solid State ; ) But, on batteries, I usually have the fone output set to 50-75 - percent into the mixer
 
Steenamaroo said:
Is the Citronic set to line rather than phono?

Am I right in saying that the Volca only has a headphone output?
If so, that's not really ideal, although I doubt you should be able to successfully blind test regardless.

Did you have to turn the output volume down in order to record without clipping?
If so that'd mean the signal hitting the amp, from computer, wouldn't be as hot. That could conceivably sound different..maybe?
Click to expand...


This is the citronic. CITRONIC AC-1USB " CONVERTER- AUDIO TO USB DIGITAL'': Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
It has an rca in and an rca out only. It was set to line level when I recorded that clip, not phono.
Output on volca was at about 65%. Output on citronic was 100% and there was no clipping on the recording.
 
ellocheeky said:
"Why are you using the Mac's soundcard output rather than the output on the Citronic? "

didn't really think about it tbh. What's your rationale for using the citronic output?
Click to expand...

ellocheeky said:
No doubt this phenomenon is a product of both the crap usb a/d and the mac's dac... but does either one in particular play a more significant role?? It's hard for me to test this...
Click to expand...

One thing you can test by using the Citronic output is if the Mac soundcard is contributing to the problem. Is the Mac output a headphone out?

You can upload an mp3 by using the Go Advanced button, then using the Manage Attachments button.
 
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