SP-FORUMS

Hi fellow SP'ers.
Basically I've been noticing this for a while now but everytime I make a beat on the 555 I am really happy with how it sounds. But once I have recorded it into my laptop via the USB connection on the 555 I am happy no longer . The track just seems to lose some of it's quality and even with the internal processing level up at +6d it's really quiet. I realise you can turn it up even more on the sampler, but that just makes it distort.
Is it just that USB audio is kinda crappy, or my laptop is crap? If I invested in a new USB soundcard what should I get and would it make much of a difference to the SP555 USB connection?
I would very much appreciate any ideas.
Cheers

it sounds like you are not getting enough level into your daw.

you probably want it peaking as close to 0dB without clipping.

there is a shift command on the 555 to set the usb recording level. Check the manual. It should be a 1 for 1 copy of what the 555 is playing.

If you are playing the recorded audio back through the 555 then it shouldn't sound any different. If you are monitoring it straight from your laptop then you will be hearing the difference between your 555 headphone amp and your laptop headphone amp.

pm me if you can't resolve it.

Mike

agreed, quality should be good but I have noticed that the 555 comes in VERY low over USB, like peaking at -18 db or something. I usually put it at +3db or 6db for recording on the 555 setting (into Reaper), then normalize it and it should be basically identical to what you heard before.