[Ardour-Users] Ardour input level issues

Steven Chamberlain steven at pyro.eu.org
Wed Oct 24 05:11:20 PDT 2007


Arnold Krille wrote:
> ...the Behringer devices are crap.

Haha, very well said.

However, it could be a difference in line reference level of the sound
card and the Behringer device.

For example, some hardware will let you switch between +4dBV and -10dBV
as the reference level.  The user manual for your Behringer mixer should
state it's line reference level.  If two devices are set differently,
the sound card could receive an overly loud or quiet signal.

It might also be to do with cabling.  I suspect (though I'm not
completely sure) that if you connect a balanced output from the mixer
either into an unbalanced input on the sound card (or vice-versa, or if
you use an unbalanced cable), then you could see a signal which is 6dB
quieter, as well as having more noise.

One other thing to look out for, is that some cards (such as my Delta
1010) try to add extra headroom.  My Delta 1010 reports its input
signals as being 20dB lower than they really are; likewise, when playing
back it plays them 20dB louder than Ardour expects.  The idea was
probably to avoid clipping if the input signal goes slightly above 0dB.
 I add +20dB Simple Amplifier plugins to each of my 'input' tracks in
Ardour, and a -20dB Simple Amplifier plugin to my outputs, to compensate
for this.

Regards,
-- 
Steven Chamberlain
steven at pyro.eu.org



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