Firepod won't clip... what's wrong?

[zocochico]

Hi All,
I've been searching to see if any one else has this problem but haven't found anything yet. Basically I am running a couple of external pre-amps into the line in 1/2 on the back of the Firepod. What I have found is I cannot get those channels to clip anymore when I do this.

Here is an example: I am recording direct from my guitar into my Aphex 207 preamp, out of the preamp and into line 1 on the back of the Firepod. I can clip the preamp like crazy, turn the thing up all the way, but the Sonar just show the level in the red but never clips, as if there was a limiter on it or something. If you record this sound it is terribly distorted because you are clipping the preamp. This happens with 2 other preamps as well as other line ins.

I have tried taking the xlr outs as well as the 1/4 inch out to see if they would make a difference but it does not matter which out you use. If I plug straight into the Firepod and use it's inputs it clips with no problems. Can anyone suggest anything?

Thanks!

 

[JazzMang]

Now why in gods name would you want to induce clipping on a converter?!

 

[dgatwood]

Hi All,
I've been searching to see if any one else has this problem but haven't found anything yet. Basically I am running a couple of external pre-amps into the line in 1/2 on the back of the Firepod. What I have found is I cannot get those channels to clip anymore when I do this.

Uh, yeah.... Your point is?

The converters in the FirePod would only clip the signal (and possibly show a clip light) if they are receiving a signal that's at or near the maximum level. You're clipping way before that. This is what's called a gain staging problem.

Let's say the input to the preamp goes from 0 to 1 and boosts it to the range 0-20. Let's say your converter (the FirePod) can handle anything from 0-10.

If you overdrive the input to the external preamp, no matter how much you overdrive it (say by feeding it a signal at 3), it will cut it off at 1 and boost that up to 20.

Now let's say your preamp's -output- is set to a multiplier of 0.4. That means that your preamp's output now goes up to 8, so it never reaches the 10 that would cause the converter to clip, despite it clipping on the input to the preamp.

To correct this, either bring up the input level on the FirePod or the output level on the preamp so that clipping on the preamp gets as close to clipping on the FirePod as possible without actually clipping. That way, you preserve as much of your dynamic range as possible.

Oh, and to monitor for clipping, watch the light on the preamp, not the converter. If you have things correctly configured, it should be the only warning indicator that lights up. It sounds like you have the preamp output or converter input pot a little low, but not too far off.