A couple years ago a bought this TC Electronic M300 effects processor: http://www.tcelectronic.com/m300.asp
It was like $150- nothing super special, but very useful.

Now you know how the SP-606 analog outputs are noisy (pg. 5 of the manual: "a small amount of noise may be heard from the display during normal operation")
Nothing wrong with a little noise, but I'd rather add my own thanks- especially when I'm recording. Even when using good balanced cables the analog outs of the 606 are still noisy.

Well the 606 has SPDIF. My DAW has a SPDIF input, so I was using that (no noise)- but the digital output is at a fixed level and I found it to be really anemic when tracking (no matter what brand or length of SPDIF cable used) So I had no noise, but the volume was way to low, with no way to turn it up.

Back to the TC Electronic. The TC has balanced ins & outs AND SPDIF ins & outs, and after reading the TC manual it mentions you can hit 'bypass' and use the TC as simply an A/D converter.

So now I run SPDIF out from the 606 into the SPDIF in on the TC (which has a volume knob) with the TC analog outputs into my DAW balanced.
Nice full sound with no unwanted screen hum or latentcy!
I have everything hooked up so you just flick a switch on the TC and it can go back to being an effects processor for my DAW (or if I choose I can effect the 606 further with the TC), and when I track the 606 I just hit 'bypass' and the TC becomes just an interface to my DAW. When I sample into the 606 I use SPDIF input (yes the analog ins are noisy as well) so I really never use the analog ins or outs on the 606 unless I'm playing live or just hook it up for jamming, etc..

The M300 is discontinued now, but they have the M350 which you can do the same thing with.

I was happy to discover this tip/trick and just had to share it with the forums.
Peace

Hey thanks for the wisdom man!... You're right about the output volume being super low... What I do is amplify it in my daw after tracking it in... You think I would get better results if I amplified it with something like you have before hand?

I was doing that as well. The naked digital volume was so low I would normalize the wav or boost it artificially with a plugin, but I prefer the results of getting a good dynamic signal from the start.

I use other hardware to make my beats, and I wasn't loving how the artificially boosted 606 tracks sat in the mix. The normalized wavs would look like fat caterpillars with very little peaks & valleys. Now they look like healthy wavs should.

Ya know how the volume knob on the 606 becomes inactive when you use SPDIF? Well the volume knob on the bypassed TC become my 606 volume when I'm doing this.

I should add that I use an unmodified Digi002 (ProTools) interface, so I go into inputs 3 & 4 which have preamp knobs which I also turn up quite a bit. So that's 2 gain stages, but still good sound (even with the less than stellar Digi-pres).

It's cool cuz I didn't know about this functionality when I bought the effects processor, I just wanted some outboard effects and I got this bonus feature.
No pulling cables- just a switch and it becomes an interface.

I'm guilty of sometimes not reading the entire manual when I get new gear, but eventually I read them cover to cover cuz it pays to be nerdy,

Very nice info, thx for the tip
How are the effects on the TC, btw?

The effects on this TC are decent if used minimally and tastefully.

I should add another way to boost digital volume is activate "Mastering", use or create a barely noticeable compression setting then boost the High, and the low way up- it is actually amazing how much headroom that's unfilled on the 606.

Have you ever created an infinite delay, then shut off the effect, then turned it back on only to be blasted by the loudest. most disturbing audio ever? The 606 can get frighteningly loud, which is why on the 555 they added a safety limiter thing.

Huh?? That surprises me, as I never had a volume issue on my SP-606 or SP-555. I never had either one of them on full volume levels, but I can't recall if the SP-606 was substantially louder. You might be right there though.



It shouldn't avalanche into an ever louder audio though, the SP-606 is supposed to have a limiter on the levels as well I think.

What you have experienced might have been a feedback bug, but when you're using a big amount of feedback, having the FX kick in at full strength after short interruption is relatively normal.

Yep. We're talking about the 'naked' SPDIF output. It is very low if you don't use the 'mastering' or use my crazy external booster trick.

No bug. There are 2 delays on the 606, regular & tape.
If you put the second 2 knobs all the way turned up and hit a pad it will create an infinite delay, it will keep going over and over itself and get louder and louder- DANGEROUSLY loud in fact- so much so that it would blow club speakers if ya messed up. Even if you turn the effect off. It will keep going unheard, then if you turn it back on it will be there again if the knobs are still up.

606ers out there- ya know what I'm talking about?

Many times live I end song by doing the 'delay out' then a smush with the D-Beam filter. I have to remember to turn the knobs back if I go back to that delay or the delay (even if it was 5 minutes ago) will come back like a terrorist sound bomb. Pretty much any delay on any device will do this. Just on the 606 it seems incredibly wicked.

Maybe I'll do a video demo of it-

Yeah, that seems to be true, but it never avalanches into insanely loud audio.

Not saying you're wrong though, I'm sure you are right.

I'm also curious to see what other SP-606 users have to say about this though.

OK I'mma let this vid do the talking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3nu6cM2 ... annel_page

something I learnt recently that I always disregarded,

using a good delay effect makes a big difference to using a basic/builtin/free/etc one..

I mean, that's separate to the feedback > 100% issue, but good delays definitely have something over average ones in terms of character/magic.

put a limiter on the channel you are recording into, and set it to where the rest of your stuff peaks


i think its good that it has feedback like that alot of delays nowadays dont let you have feedback unless you have it on a send channel and send the send into itself

It shouldn't grow actually... this is weird stuff.

Also... this is like you said an issue related to 'infinite' delay, meaning when you put feedback to a 100%.

This very same thing can happen on the MV as well, but the sound won't grow past maximum volume. Quite strange that the sp-606 cumulates the sound like this.

this is a helpful thread, great to hear how others record out from the 606. I run mine back through my turntable mixer, through my shitty amp and then through to my four track. With the four track peaked and then adjust everything on the mixer. Also use the mastering option on the 606, it can really thicken up or thin out your track.

Pitch shifting effect does that too. If you pitch the sample high and mess with ctrl knob 2 while ctrl knob 3 is at full right, the sound will grow to frightening levels. One day I did let it go and it was like the invasion of Planet X storming through my house. Weird.