USB recording level is really low

ellery · Post by **ellery** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:15 am

Hi all, first time poster, long time lurker. I've got an issue with USB recordings...

I'm recording from my SP-606 onto a PC (i.e. triggering samples from the SP-606 pads and recording the resultiung output into the PC via USB connection). The problem is, the level that the samples playback at when I'm tapping pads on the sampler is much louder than when I hit stop to finish recording and then playback from the PC. Whats with that? I thought it might be my computer at first, or my ableton settings, so I tried Tracktion and a different computer, but always the same... the end recording comes out really soft, which tells me it's a setting on the SP not on the PC.

Anyone know if you can increase the volume level of the audio out signal that goes from the sampler to the PC via USB? (i.e.apart from just adjusting the gain level in your software).

Euclid Ov Oåklånd · Post by **Euclid Ov Oåklånd** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:39 am

Click the image if you need to see it magnified and welcome to the forums.

ellery · Post by **ellery** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:05 am

Thanks for the tip but I'd already tried that too...

This may be showing my ignorance of USB and how it works, but will the quality of the USB cable effect the volume? Looking at it now, it's a pretty cheap looking cable... (?)

Euclid Ov Oåklånd · Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:13 am

I kinda doubt that, but maybe. It sounds more like an internal setting issue to me, you could at least amplify the sound in whatever progam you used to record. I use a 303, but I'm sure someone that knows the 606 better will give you more insight.

korakios · Post by **korakios** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:45 pm

Sp606 keeps some headroom for adding effects...so it's normal to have low levels...
but you also say that when you are playing realtime the samples are loud enough.so i got confused!
Do you mean that the sound is lower only when you are recording?
You can try using the master effect just for raising the volume or use a very nice plugin during rec (606man post it) on
http://sp-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1465

If the usb cable had problem then there would be no sound at all.

Teewok · Post by **Teewok** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:50 pm

u gotta be as loud as possible in your machine... meaning the audio in rec level has to be cranked......even mastering settings help to get a a louder sound... or the enhancer mfx does the job aswell....... Or u can just raise the volume in ur recording software... I record in cool edit and 100 percent of the time i have to apply an amplitude increase, even when the loud mastering settings are applied

ellery · Post by **ellery** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 11:03 pm

@korakios what I meant is that when I'm tapping out what I want to record (into Live / Tracktion), I monitor the sound levels directly via the headphone jack on the sp-606, and they're plenty loud enough as I play them. However, when I then playback the PC recording I just made (via the same SP-606 jack, or any one of a number of other outputs), it's much softer than when I was tapping them out in the first place...

MIDI / other sounds play back at accurate levels, so I know it's not the ouput channels that aren't loud enough. I've been through all my PC / SP / Ableton settings with a fine tooth comb, everything is cranked right up for inputs... it's looking like the solution is a matter of having to increase the volume of what I've recorded once it's actually on the PC, as Teewok suggests. I was kinda hoping to avoid that (Ableton Live Lite caps how much gain you can add), but oh well. Either that, or just sampling loud as fk onto the SP in the first place :S

Thanks again for the tips all... If this problem's just a quirk of the SP-606, I'll build a bridge and get over it, but if it's fixable, I want that solution.

ellery · Post by **ellery** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:47 am

Actually, just found out a way to boost the volume alot more in Live, so the problem is now a none issue. Thanks again to the above peeps for the assistance in thinking this thing through.