FireWire Solo startup trouble!

[Xpred]

I just recently bought a FireWire Solo, a MXL 990 mic with a monstercable XLR cable. My computer has Windows XP SP2 with latest updates, drivers, etc. However, there are some problems. After installing, there are two things I notice:

1. In the M-Audio FireWire Control Panel, only the LEFT side picks up. I guess this might or might not be normal since my mic is just a vocal mic and I have only one mic plugged in (unsure)..

2. The volume is EXTREMELY Low! I've tried everything from reinstalling old and new drivers from the site. The gain is almost on MAX on the preamp, and it still is barely "ok" volume. A friend of mine says his gain on very low can pickup even foot steps.

I'm about to give up in frustration. I thought this whole setup would work as I'm new to all this home recording. If it doesn't work out after a few more attempts, I'm just gonna return everything altogether.

 

[Monkey Allen]

Well, I 'think' that your mic is probably sending a mono signal, or the cables are mono so you'll need to set your softawre to receive mono. It's no big deal. The weak signal might be the result of your mic. Some mikes need quite a boost to get them up to 'unity' which is a term I believe describes a mic's threshold or minimum for generating a signal.

Someone should be able to clarify all this properly

 

[DavidK]

I have a firewire solo that I am very happy with.

1. In the M-Audio FireWire Control Panel, only the LEFT side picks up. I guess this might or might not be normal since my mic is just a vocal mic and I have only one mic plugged in (unsure)..

2. The volume is EXTREMELY Low! I've tried everything from reinstalling old and new drivers from the site. The gain is almost on MAX on the preamp, and it still is barely "ok" volume. A friend of mine says his gain on very low can pickup even foot steps.

1. I never look at the control panel, I look at SONAR. Yes, only the left side will probably light up, you are using the left side! If I pick "stereo" in sonar, indeed only the left side will work. If I pick MONO, I can pan whereever I please. I just tested it: yup, that is correct, just pick mono in whatever audio software you are using and it should be fine.

2. The line inputs on back seem to be a bit low. I run my JV1010 synth in those, which also has a low output.
On the front, the mic input is probably a bit lower than most, but it works fine. I dont know your MXL mic, is it a condensor? My condensor works fine with the phantom power. My Shure SM57 is a lil weak but still in the ballpark. I tend to stay pretty close to the mic.

Yes, the inputs are a lil low. For my condensor, I got it turned up to maybe 75%, for the shure maybe 85. For me its fine.

Are you using the adapter that came with it or powering it by firewire? I originally used the adapter ( didnt read the directions) and it didnt work well, works fine with firewire. I wouldnt give up on it, for the money I think its a great lil unit, very happy with mine.

 

[Xpred]

It doesn't need the bus power adapter if it is 6-pin to 6-pin firewire. I don't know why mine records in left side, but I said you told me it is normal since I only have one mic input. I also don't know why it is so low volume. I went back to Guitar Center and they tested the equipment on their Mac OS laptop, and it worked fine. But for some reason on both of my two PC computers with WXP SP2, it doesn't. Perhaps I am doing something installation wrong? I have phantom power on and I have installed it as instructions noted. I will call M-Audio tomorrow... if it still doesn't work by then, I will just swap the pre-amp with something else like a Presonus or a Tascam.

 

[Xpred]

OK. So I called M-Audio tech support. I believe I found the problem. It seems my onboard firewire's IRQ is being shared by TWO OTHER resources! One being the extensive hogging video-card (GF4), and the other a USB hub. How can I change this, does anyone know? I have the option to mess with IRQ settings in BIOS. But I'm not quite sure how I would be able to do this. They are all being shared on IRQ 16. This means it would not be delivering enough power to the FireWire Solo interface, and thus inducing the low volume. Anyone know how to force the IRQ settings differently? Thanks.