High Gain AI's?

As I've posted in the other forum, my new M-audio M-Track 2x2 has very low gain. I have to run it virtually all the way to get the LED's to bump past -20db and confirmed in Sonar.
 
Do other brands have a better gain structure?  I have tried many sources, Condenser Mic, Ipod full output, Guitar, Modeling stomp box.
 
thx
 
bob

Some AI gain knobs pull out (or push in) to boost the gain an additional amount.  Not sure the M-audio has this or not, but my Avid Mbox does.

dwardzala
Some AI gain knobs pull out (or push in) to boost the gain an additional amount.  Not sure the M-audio has this or not, but my Avid Mbox does.

I wish, but no!  If you plug a guitar directly into an AI, should you get a decent level without a preamp?


 
bob

Well looking at it I can see a few issues right away. 

Power: USB-bus-power    

Tailor-made gain and impedance stage for a pristine, accurate DI signalSo it looks like it has limited input impediance matching. No pad, no line/ inst swicth. 
And Buss power is well known to not supply enough juice. Think about it,, 5V low amps boosted up to 48?? It could never work. Does it have the option for a wall power supply? Doesn't look like it. I'd return it. 
For the same price you could have got better features with Tascam or Focusrite. Always look for the option of full A/C power. Buss power is fine for headphones on the beach. 
 
And if that's not it then like Beagle say's check your cables. 

steelgtr
As I've posted in the other forum, my new M-audio M-Track 2x2 has very low gain. I have to run it virtually all the way to get the LED's to bump past -20db and confirmed in Sonar.

Hi Bob,
 
That sounds like an input level mis-match.
ie:  The audio interface is expecting a +4dB signal... and is being fed a -10dB signal.

I ordered the Tascam 2x2.  I hope the inst/line switch does the trick!
 
bob

What should I set the buffer size too?  I have an i7 6700 and 32 gb DDR4 Ram.
 
Default is 256.
 
thx
 
bob

scook
There is no rule. 256 would be the upper limit for most trying to monitor through the DAW. I believe most run 128 or lower to keep the monitor delay while tracking as low as possible. Your ears will let you know if the setting is low enough. If you are not monitoring the track being recorded through the DAW, a low buffer setting is not critical. It might be necessary to run higher than 256 when mixing depending on the PC and the plug-ins used.

So, higher is better if your system can handle it?
 
bob

dwardzala
No, lower is better.  The lower your buffer, the lower your latency (the delay between playing a note and hearing it.)

How low should I go?  I7 6700  32 Ram?
 
thx
 
bob

scook
At 44.1 kHz 256 usually results in somewhere around a 20ms delay. 128 is near 10ms and so on. A higher sample rate reduces the delay by filling the buffers faster at the cost of higher CPU and disk usage. It really comes down to what you can live with and how the PC performs. Ideally there would be no delay when monitoring though the DAW but physics gets in the way. My guess is the low limit (the smallest buffer setting) will be obvious, you will experience dropouts and distortion. The upper limit may not matter but extreme settings either way often do not perform well.

I just changed from 256 to 128 and it's much better. I'm testing by putting the Tascam monitor balance in the middle and turning on "input echo" on the track that I'm recording on. At 256, I was hearing the delay.
 
Should I change the sample rate from 44 to 48 in the Tascam settings panel and in Sonar?
 
thx
 
bob

scook
Do what sounds right. Aside from just playing around with different sample rates, I have stayed on 44.1, others use 48. I am sure they have their reasons. While you are at it try 96. You might like it up there, it will cut the latency in half.

So, I'll know when I have reached the limit when playing back?
 
thx
 
bob

I just leave my setting at 256.
 
My system becomes unstable at the lower settings on busy projects. 
And I stay with 44.1 because most of my work is headed for a CD so why fuss. 
Because you can direct monitor at the interface there's no need to hear what comes out the other end of Sonar while recording.  You only need to do this when using a guitar sim or if you want to hear a plug in effect live.
So I only use input echo on MIDI tracks, not audio.
I did use it once when a client wanted to hear reverb while tracking, managed to mix the direct and the delayed just so and he was happy.
The trick was crank the reverb send on the track but turn down the tracks level. This results in you hearing mostly the reverb. But you still need the direct monitoring mixed in so you can sing in snyc. 
Track level has no bearing on the recording level so you can get away with that. 
 
I now use a small mixer for monitoring so I can add reverb to the headphones.