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bardogodspeed
New member
@legion: yeah the input monitor on my DAW software is fine.
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bardogodspeed
New member
@greg: interesting. I have two options for recording input: USB Audio Codec and IDT Audio. I'm using USB Audio Codec, obviously. Do you think Windows could be using both or something?
gregsk777
...
In the punk rock spirit, I think it is time to smash something!
gregsk777
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In regards to the codecs I an not quite sure which one is the correct one, but try either one and see if anything changes. Once you choose something besides the Windows driver it should be "technically" keeping it's nose out of the process.
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bardogodspeed
New member
@greg, thanks for all your replies.
My plan of action is to buy a new usb cable (the one that goes from the interface to the computer). Who knows, maybe it's messed up, even though it came with the unit.
Failing that, I'll buy a more expensive interface and see if that works. I can always return the first one.
Man... if this doesn't resolve soon I'm going to smash a lot of stuff!
My plan of action is to buy a new usb cable (the one that goes from the interface to the computer). Who knows, maybe it's messed up, even though it came with the unit.
Failing that, I'll buy a more expensive interface and see if that works. I can always return the first one.
Man... if this doesn't resolve soon I'm going to smash a lot of stuff!
gregsk777
...
If this is something you just bought I would definitely return it and try another one or something else.
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moresound
Loud Sun Studios
@greg, thanks for all your replies.
My plan of action is to buy a new usb cable (the one that goes from the interface to the computer). Who knows, maybe it's messed up, even though it came with the unit.
Failing that, I'll buy a more expensive interface and see if that works. I can always return the first one.
Man... if this doesn't resolve soon I'm going to smash a lot of stuff!
Video please.
legionserial
New member
What sample rate/bit depth are you recording at?
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bardogodspeed
New member
sample rate: 44100
bit depth: 16
buffers: 8
buffer size: 2048
Do you think it might be something here? I've tried playing around with these to no avail.
bit depth: 16
buffers: 8
buffer size: 2048
Do you think it might be something here? I've tried playing around with these to no avail.
legionserial
New member
I'm taking a longshot here. Just trying to come up with anything that might be a problem really....Does your laptop have an onboard sound card and is it still enabled?
legionserial
New member
Also, is it one of the ART pres with a tube in it?
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bardogodspeed
New member
@legionserial: yes, and yes it is still enabled. are you onto something here?
and no, the art pre has no tube, it's the ultra-simple model here:
http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?type=90&cat=13&id=132
and no, the art pre has no tube, it's the ultra-simple model here:
http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?type=90&cat=13&id=132
legionserial
New member
Try disabling it.
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bardogodspeed
New member
is it best to do that in the bios? I'm running XP.
legionserial
New member
That would be ideal if you can. But failing that, go into the device manager in windows and disable it from there.
I'm assuming the ART is an output device aswell as an input device?
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
jsut tossing this in here, I have seen recorders that'll distort even if it's not clipping. I have an old DAT-Walkman I use for field recordings and I HAVE to keep it down around -12db on the meter even though theoretically there's plenty of headroom left. But higher than that and it distorts so try backing your send to the 'puter WAY down and see if that helps.
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
if you don't disable it in the bios, then Windows will keep using it, no matter what else you do. disabling in the bios makes it invisible to Windows, and that is what you need if you want your USB interface to be the only audio device Windows can see.
a new usb cable won't help, imo. this is definitely a gain level or gain setting somewhere that you missed. Something is, for example, set to +4 when it should be set to -10.
Did you say you were playing the guitar and then singing into the same mic? without changing anything in between? One mic, no changes, and it records voice fine but guitar is distorted? I mean, you actually have the mic in front of the amp, then you lean over and sing into that same mic without moving it or changing anything?
if that is actually what you are doing, and the guitar plays back distorted while the voice plays back fine, then your amp is spitting out something that your mic can hear but your ears cannot. trust me, it happens all the time. I dont know how loud your amp is, but if you put your ear on the grill cloth where the mic is, then can you hear that same distortion coming out of the guitar speaker? If you are not putting your ear on the grill next to the speaker you will not hear the distortion.......but the mic will hear it every time.
legionserial
New member
That occured to me too, but I kept forgetting to mention it. There a reasonable difference between the in/out line levels of pro and consumer stuff, and you've got to set it right.
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bardogodspeed
New member
@Lt. Bob: I have tried setting my send to the computer very low. The resultant playback is very quiet and still has the unwanted guitar distortion.
@soundchaser59: thanks for poppin in on this thread. What you described is *exactly* what I was doing. However, it can't be that the amp is producing something bad, because *when I plug in direct to the USB interface* (no amp) THE EXACT SAME SOUND IS HAPPENING! Wouldn't this indicate an issue with:
-The USB cable
-The USB interface itself (although why can I record vocals with no problems?)
-Maybe every single USB port on my laptop is having a problem accepting the digital signal, but only the digital signal of a guitar?
I've tried 2 different guitar, and 3 different guitar cables, and another DAW software. So it's not those things.
Here's something really weird that I mentioned before but bears mentioning again. The USB interface has a headphone monitor jack on the back. When I plug my headphones in there and strum along, it sounds great! So something is wrong with the A/D conversion, but again, ONLY OF A GUITAR SOUND?
Tonight I plan to try these things:
-Try new USB cable (they're cheap as heck, why not)
-Try recording upstairs (although this does not seem electrical, but I'm willing to try anything at this point)
-Disabling on-board soundcard
One question, if I disable on-board soundcard, will audio still play back?
Thanks for all your attention on this matter guys, this board is great. I'm an optimist, I WILL get this problem solved. And then I can impart my knowledge to y'all and maybe save someone else the trouble.
@soundchaser59: thanks for poppin in on this thread. What you described is *exactly* what I was doing. However, it can't be that the amp is producing something bad, because *when I plug in direct to the USB interface* (no amp) THE EXACT SAME SOUND IS HAPPENING! Wouldn't this indicate an issue with:
-The USB cable
-The USB interface itself (although why can I record vocals with no problems?)
-Maybe every single USB port on my laptop is having a problem accepting the digital signal, but only the digital signal of a guitar?
I've tried 2 different guitar, and 3 different guitar cables, and another DAW software. So it's not those things.
Here's something really weird that I mentioned before but bears mentioning again. The USB interface has a headphone monitor jack on the back. When I plug my headphones in there and strum along, it sounds great! So something is wrong with the A/D conversion, but again, ONLY OF A GUITAR SOUND?
Tonight I plan to try these things:
-Try new USB cable (they're cheap as heck, why not)
-Try recording upstairs (although this does not seem electrical, but I'm willing to try anything at this point)
-Disabling on-board soundcard
One question, if I disable on-board soundcard, will audio still play back?
Thanks for all your attention on this matter guys, this board is great. I'm an optimist, I WILL get this problem solved. And then I can impart my knowledge to y'all and maybe save someone else the trouble.
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soundchaser59
Reluctant Commander
Very strange, hope you figure it out. Aint much to that dual pre, not much to go wrong.
It's odd that guitar is distorted whether you use a mic into the XLR input or plug the guitar direct into the 1/4 inch jack in the center. Distorts even if you have the gain knobs all the way off (full counter-clockwise)? You can pump the volume up later downstream, just wondering if you are positive the input is as clean as it can be. Might do an experiment and plug the guitar into a direct box so you can run it in thru the XLR jack instead of the 1/4 inch jack. Could be the jacks are faulty.
The output is a balanced TRS jack, are you using a balanced cable for the monitor outs? Since it sounds great on headphones, maybe using the wrong cord (unbalanced TS cord into the balanced TRS jack) might cause it to sound bad?
Since it's fairly new, maybe you should set aside an hour to sit on the phone and call ART for tech support? They are better now than they used to be (since they were bought by Yorkville I believe) and the last time I had reason to call them they were very nice. Worth it if they just happen to tell you that one tidbit fact that fixes your problem.
Just thinking out loud here......
Should, but it will only play back thru your USB device. IF I understand your set up correctly, that's how it "should" work. I disabled my on-board device (aka "integrated sound card" on the motherboard) and all of my audio, including windows media player, plays back thru my EMU interface. But you have to tell your software to use the USB device. Mine runs on ASIO, just try not to use the "DirectX" type audio api.
It's odd that guitar is distorted whether you use a mic into the XLR input or plug the guitar direct into the 1/4 inch jack in the center. Distorts even if you have the gain knobs all the way off (full counter-clockwise)? You can pump the volume up later downstream, just wondering if you are positive the input is as clean as it can be. Might do an experiment and plug the guitar into a direct box so you can run it in thru the XLR jack instead of the 1/4 inch jack. Could be the jacks are faulty.
The output is a balanced TRS jack, are you using a balanced cable for the monitor outs? Since it sounds great on headphones, maybe using the wrong cord (unbalanced TS cord into the balanced TRS jack) might cause it to sound bad?
Since it's fairly new, maybe you should set aside an hour to sit on the phone and call ART for tech support? They are better now than they used to be (since they were bought by Yorkville I believe) and the last time I had reason to call them they were very nice. Worth it if they just happen to tell you that one tidbit fact that fixes your problem.
Just thinking out loud here......
Should, but it will only play back thru your USB device. IF I understand your set up correctly, that's how it "should" work. I disabled my on-board device (aka "integrated sound card" on the motherboard) and all of my audio, including windows media player, plays back thru my EMU interface. But you have to tell your software to use the USB device. Mine runs on ASIO, just try not to use the "DirectX" type audio api.
