clipping

[gamba]

can some one please tell me what to do if i a guitar or bass plugged directly into the motu 828mk3 hybrid 2 mic instrument inputs clips or reads a very hot signal. how do i lower the signal to be recorded without using cuemix fx and without turning the volume down on the guitar. in other words is there any way to get gain reduction on the interface or is it just boost from +0db to +53db. please help i've already sent the interface back to motu and they said with different guitars the unit was peaking around -12db. i've tried numerous experiments with many guitars and i cant come close to -12db. i use logic pro and i really don't have to compress or limit guitar or bass tracks just to record them. i have tried a sm57 and that gave me no problem but that is also a dynamic and meant to take a beating input wise. never tried a condenser and i won't buy one just to do an experiment. like i said before please anyone help me because i'm getting no where with tech support.

[crduval]

I see the same behavior with a couple of my guitars; in fact the ultralite manual states that some guitar pickups will put out a signal that will clip the instrument input. I plan to eventually pick up a direct box with a pad to deal with this.

Make sure though that you are not adding any gain with the trim control on the input inside cuemix as this will make the situation worse.


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[gamba]

i got a direct box from guitar center and it was doing weird things so i took it with the guitar i was using to gc and they tested it on i believe a high end m audio interface and the told me the box was fine and it was my interface that was broke.

[stevemilnersound]

What direct box did you try ?

What "weird" things was it doing exactly?

What make and model guitar are you having this problem with?

With more specifics, it should be possible to figure out your issue. While the salesman at GC might have been honestly trying to help you... his job is to sell you stuff... like a new interface. Let's see if we can't figure out what, if anything is wrong, before spending anymore money.

Steve

[gamba]

i forget the name of the direct box but i know it was you 35.00 run of the mill box with a mogami cable to match my mogami's i use.
the weird things is was doing is that the signal got cut down to -12db without using the pad at all. i brought it back with the guitar i was using( an ibanez 320dx sp1 spawn limited edition) it's my friends and i don't know for sure but in the 90 percentile range that the pick ups in it are dimarzio.the dude at gc plugged it in a keyboard amp and said the box was fine. i then asked him if he could plug it into an interface. he plugged it in a high end model m audio and the pad worked so he said that my motu was broke. since then i have bought a ibanez rg3exfm1 and my levels are fine but the pick ups are not that good so i would like to change them to maybe duncan intruders but don't know how my 828mk3 would handle these. would i be back at the beginning of my original situation?

[TinenTech]

Sounds to me like you may have inadvertently put some gain in the Input EQ or Dynamics. When you look at the Input tab of CueMix FX, are EQ and Dynamics disabled? If they're on, are they set for unity gain?

How about the V-limit and Soft Clip parameters? Are they on or off?

If none of that works, you must have a really hot guitar pickup. The -20 dB pad for the front panel inputs works ONLY on the XLR, so, yes, if you have the front "combo" jack set for 0 dB gain, that's as low as it can go. If you want to leave the gain on your guitar up full, you'll have to plug into one of the rear panel line inputs 1-8. These can be padded up to -96 dB, or amped up +22 dB. They're not "high impedance" inputs...probably sort of mid-impedance...so they might affect the tone of the guitar, but the difference isn't huge on many instruments.

[gamba]

i have the eight lines specifically used for my roland tdw20 v drum module.

[TinenTech]

What about the CueMix settings? Are they all flat?

[gamba]

Yes the are.

[Patrick_Bear]

If the 828 is like the Ultralite in that the mic Pads don't apply to the instrument/line ins, you can use a basic DI box then use the Pad on the mic input that you are using. One thing you said about not using CueMix--once you get your setup the way you need it with CueMix, you don't have to run it every time you use the interface. CueMix is just software that allows you to edit the settings that are actually stored and implemented inside the hardware.

Just curious, is anyone using Zbox or Dragster in front of their Motu DI inputs?