Low Input Levels on my 888/24

[Fucius]

Why are the input levels so low on my 888/24? I've tried recalibrating and using the suggested -18db head room and the input levels are still to low. I connected my synth directly into the 888/24 via analogue and the synth output was at maximum. The input level was not even touching the yellow on the 888/24 and/or in the aux strip that I assigned in protools. The same thing happened when my friend brought over his summit. I thought maybe a preamp would be the solution to my proglem, synth -> summit -> 888/24. When we cranked the summit, the sound got distorted but the input level on the 888/24 and aux strip in PT didn't budge much. Any ideas?? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Shawn Simpson]

Have you checked all of your cabling? Maybe you have some sort of unbalanced to balanced cabling problem that's cutting and distorting your signal. If you take 2 good XLR cables and connect one from the summit to the 888 and the other from a microphone to the summit, can you get good level from the mic? Is it all of the inputs that are low or just the first one?

[The Chinese]

Originally posted by Fucius:
I connected my synth directly into the 888/24 via analogue and the synth output was at maximum. The input level was not even touching the yellow on the 888/24 and/or in the aux strip that I assigned in protools. The same thing happened when my friend brought over his summit. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I think what you're seeing here is operating levels-
Your synth almost certainly is a -10dBv output. Run into an 888/24 which is +4Bu, you're gonna see some low levels. I suggest a Line level shifter such as Ebtech's Line level shifter or a Matchbox...then I think you'll see happly levels.
-Todd A.

[Fucius]

Shawn,

Yes, I made sure I used high quality balanced cables. I'm having this problem across all input channels. I've even tried switching the 888's channels 7-8 internally to -10 via the jumpers and after recalibrating, the input signal seemed to be a bit louder but not by much. I even tried turning the input signal pan pots on the 888 all the way up and I still got the same result, maxium input barely touched yellow. I'm curious, is this how the 888 is suppose to be when you connect a synth directly into its input? Have you ever tried this before and got the same results I have?

[5down1up]

how low is it ??? -18 dbfs may seem low , maybe you gonna recalibrate the interface if you just using synths . the -x dbfs calibration idea is to give you an ammount of headroom . if you would connect your synth to an " analog mixer " and you would level it to 0dbvu your interface would show -18dbfs ( which isnt even in the yellow zone of the 888s meters ). the output circuit levels the -18dbfs digital signal back to 0dbvu . ( if used with an analog mixer ) . i guess wrong " balanced " soldering may cause another lack of 6db . i cant remember eitehr the in or the outputs have to be " bridged " to have a balanced signal flow . ( its in the manual ) .

heres how i calibrated my interfaces :
sinus tone 1khz to a analog device with vu meters . the 1khz tone needs to be +6db that the vu meter shows 0dbvu . i calibrated the inputs to -10dbfs with that signal . so if a signal recorded with 0dbvu , the interface shows -10dbfs and the output to my analog mixer shows 0dbvu . thats how it works for me.

the bad thing bout that idea is if you wanna do a 2trackmixdown . f.ex working with a analog console
: your mix shows maybe +4 db on a peakmeter . so your still ~12 db away from a full scale signal .
either you lose now resolution or you have to raise the master fader on the board ( which might distort ) .
so i make sure if have 2 inputs calibrated to
-4dbfs . same thing with sample cds . those signals are already mastered ( whyever ??? ) . 0dbfs and you will have +18 dbvu on your console , you gotta move the PT faders without having WW3 on your monitors .

andandand , good luck

p.s i dont think the summit should distort by raising the level 10dbs . let us know what your " levels " are . but i guess i know what you mean , digital can be a little confusing .

[Mark Haliday]

What you need is to open the 888 and change the jumpers to get a -10dbV reference level. See 888 manual for this.
If you try to drive a 888 near 0db full scale with the reference level set at +4db, you are asking your source to deliver levels in excess of +20 db !
Most of the time this will result in distorted signals.