Metering and clipping on the 1248 interface.

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Discussion related to installation, configuration and use of MOTU hardware such as MIDI interfaces, audio interfaces, etc. with Windows
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mort_subite
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Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:53 am
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Metering and clipping on the 1248 interface.

Post by mort_subite »

Try as I might, even after rtfm, I cannot find a definitive answer to this question, so it's time to turn to the power of the forum.

Is there any practical way of visually inspecting a digital over (hard clip) on the front panel of the 1248 with v-limit turned off? Useful as it might be, I'm not entirely certain how comfortable I am just limiting all my input signals with a limiter that has no finer granular control beyond "off" and "on," and a little bar that gives me an approximate measure of how much my signal just got crushed.

Typically I don't really slam my inputs and Im pretty mindful of hovering around 12 or so DBFS, but even careful signal metering can often result in clipping, and in that case I'd rather know that Im clipping the input, turn it down a bit, or apply a limiter I feel is appropriate for the situation, rather than have one chosen for me with no other say in the matter besides "on" or "off".

As long as there's a way to know when I've hit an over its all good, but at the moment, this is seriously something that's tempting me to send the unit back.
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terrybritton
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Re: Metering and clipping on the 1248 interface.

Post by terrybritton »

It is an option, that's all. It is useful for live work where a re-take would not be possible, as it allows quite a bit of overage to be adjusted for. I feel it works quite elegantly, actually. It never sounds "crushed" to my ears, and I do not push my inputs hard at all but there are still those "moments"!

I'd just leave it off and use your studio plugins for stuff that can be done with re-takes. It takes some load off the DAW for critical live work - that's how I see it.

Terry
Computer: Sweetwater CS400v7 Intel Core i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz | 64Gigs RAM | Windows 11 Pro x64 |
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mort_subite
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:53 am
Primary DAW OS: Windows

Re: Metering and clipping on the 1248 interface.

Post by mort_subite »

The problem here is that its difficult to see if I've gone over on a spike, and it just kind of squicks me out that my options are "limiter I've never used with no control options" or "ah, crap, was that an over?"

It doesn't help that the viewing angle on the unit is such that I can't see the meters from where I sit at my desk anyway.

Last night I had two audible incidences of jitter at low latencies while mixing as well.

As nice as this unit sounds, its going back and Im getting an RME UFX. Thanks for the help in this and the other thread! That "workaround" for system audio isn't going to cut it either. Bummer I had to have it shipped here to find out. It does sound really nice tho. Im sure its a great piece of kit for those whom its features synergise with their workflow and gear requirements.

Its been real.

Cheers!
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