Edit Oct 13 2015: This thread is from back when I FIRST got my Scarlett 18i6 and had only owned Sonar for a littel while. Obviously I have solved this issue. We got a new asking (who zombied the thread) though so I guess it's still active.
 
OP...
 
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Hi, guys. Here's the deal. I have my guitar plugged into the multi input of my Focusrite Scarlett 18i6. The LED meter on the box is not clipping however any time I dig in EVERYTHING else is clipping. The meter of the track I am recording to is clipping. The input meter on the Scarlett MixControl software is clipping (which is for monitoring only but it is still clipping). The recorded tracks are clipping. Everything. But I CANNOT seem to get it to stop by turning anything down. The trim control on the Scarlett is set to zero (I cannot turn it down anymore). Turning down the gain or volume on the track only makes things audibly quieter but the meter is still reading the same levels. The only thing that works is turning down the actual volume pot on my guitar which I do NOT want to do because I want the full frequency. Any thoughts here? Am I stuck? Are my PUPS too hot? Is there some magical fader/gain/trim knob I'm missing somewhere? Cheers.

I mean it sounds great and all but it's just hitting the red every so often. Maybe I should ask the Focusrite guys. Strikes me as odd that with the trim turned completely off I'm getting such a hot signal. Maybe that's just the way high Z works. I've never recorded this way before. I've always gone through amps with line outs or mics or mixers or whatever in the past. Should I try the line in option instead of the hi-z?

Beep, I've always DI'dmy guitar, but before I got my QUAD-CAPTURE I was using a (way over the top) Berhinger DX3216, and it did not have any dedicated Hi-Z inputs, and you just altered the trim to suit the device being recorded.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr02/articles/behringerddx3216.asp





Anyway, that has since given up the ghost, and I'm using a much simpler system now. The QUAD-CAPTURE has one of them there Hi-Z inputs, and the first time I used it all went okay. And then one day, I was DI-ing my guitar again, and I forgot to flick the Hi-Z switch. I had set the trim to match the signal, recorded some stuff, and all was fine. I then noticed that I hadn't flicked the switch to Hi-Z, and wondered why I had managed to record my guitar okay. Since then, I have never bothered using my Hi-Z switch, and I've always intended posing the question on here, "what on earth is the Hi-Z input for."


I mean, I know what, in theory it is for, but in practice, I managed fine without it...


I wondering if you should also try recording your guitar with the Hi-Z switch in the "off" position, assuming you can do that on the Scarlett 18i6


cheers


andy

Hi Beepster,
is there a Pad knob on your interface ? If so, you can manipulate the input gain 
of the Hi - z Input from plus 7 dbu to plus 16 dbu highest level.
The Hi- Z input of my Saffire 40 sounds better than the Palmer DI boxes, really like it.
Another cause , why the scarlett is not running well on some systems is,that 
the scarlett interface has to be the only USB device on one USB Port(No hard drives,etc on the same port).
Also the quality of the USB -and other cables have an influenece.
Peace  

Hi Beepster,

You definitely have some hot pickups.  I did a little test myself with a bass I had here at the office and was just approaching peaking when slapping the poor bass way harder then I ever would when normally playing.  Keep in mind that this bass has a humbucker that outputs more than any guitar I've ever recorded through a DI.  

I also tested using both the instrument and the line input modes.  The difference in tone was negligible, but this is going to be completely dependent on the output impedance of your guitar so your experience may differ.  The line input has a lower input impedance than the instrument mode.  Instrument pickups generally have high impedances with piezo transducers being very high.  If the impedance mismatch is great enough you may experience some loss of high frequencies, but this mainly applies to acoustic instruments using piezo pickups as they usually need to be plugged into an input impedance of 1M or greater.

If you are unable to achieve desirable results in the line input mode, please contact our tech support through our website and we will work with you to find a solution.

I am most impressed that a product tech support guy has taken the time to respond in this thread. Kudos a thousound times...

Beepster,

Since Matt mentioned it, I have to believe the MixControl has the same inst./line selector my 8i6 has. You didn't say whether you had selected the inst. input for the channel you are working with. Are you?


***EDIT: Oops. I should have read your second post more carefully. My bad.***

Hi, guys. Sorry for the late reply. I had some meat world stuff to take care of today. I'll start of by saying I'm gonna try the regular line in setting and see what happens.

@synkrotron... Hey, dude. Yeah, as I said I never used to use the direct ins on my Layla 3G. It just wasn't doing it for me and back then I didn't have any decent amp sims (I had GR2 but it... uh... sucked). Mainly what I did, and it really was a bit of a pain, was plug into my old Line 6 dual amp head and use the two XLR outs on the back directly into the multi ins of the Layla. Actually I'd plug into my Metal Zone and then into the Line 6. With the Line 6 I could use two different models at the same time and output them separately so I'd get the best clean tones I could (usually the Hi Watt model) and set one to be more trebly and the other more bottomy. Then I could record it onto to tracks and blend them however I wanted. Obviously this laid the distortion directly onto the track but it sounded good enough so whatever. Getting a decent sounding clean tone or low distortion tone was next to impossible though. Now with the Scarlett the input quality is AWESOME so I don't have to go through all that hassle and I have GR5 which is sounding really good. However the redlining was obviously an issue. I'm hoping the line level setting will do what I want. Cheers.

@pragi... Yup. I had the Scarlett set to Inst. (hi-z) with the trim knob turned all the way down and it was still blasting. Not quite sure why I would still be getting a signal with the knob turned off but that's where the problem lies. It's a little odd. Cheers.

@Matt... Hey, man. How are ya? I was hoping you might see this. I actually did some bass tracks (Squier P-Bass with a standard single coil) using the Inst. setting and that was giving a VERY strong signal as well but it wasn't clipping as long as I didn't let the strings hit the pickup (I put some electrical tape on the pickups and around the strings just above the pickups for when I was finger picking... using an actual pick was fine). That actually sounds great as it is and doesn't even require much tweaking in the DAW or GR5. Basically the raw signal is almost good enough to leave as is. As far as the guitar goes it's a Pacifaca 112 that's been modded to be a "Superstrat". All the pickups are Seymour Duncans. The Bridge pup is a humbucker but I forget the actual model number and the other two are single coils (the middle one is a Hotrail and again I forget the model of the neck pup). It's supposedly a set of pickups available from SD specifically for hot modding Strats. Very nice stuff so yeah... I could see them pushing the limits. One thing that is a little bothersome though is when I plug into the Scarlett hi-z the only pickup that is usable is the humbucker and it does sound incredible but the single coils are really muddy. It's a shame because I really like the neck pick for cleanish blues tones. Not sure if there is anything that can be done or tweaked there but I can manage with just the humbucker. I will definitely try out the line setting and see what kind of results I get. I was hoping to figure out why I could not lower my input ANYWHERE. I always figured Sonar would have some way to turn down input levels. I guess I'm also curious as to why the trim knob doesn't completely turn off the Hi-Z when turned to zero. Either way if I can't get it working I'll be in touch but if line in is acceptable for this type of signal I'm cool with that. I always thought that was just actual line out instruments and mixers. Thanks again. I've been recommending your company all over the place since I bought this thing not only because of how good the stuff is and the price but the amazing support you provide. The Scarlett SMOKES my Layla which I paid twice as much for. Cheers!

@synkrotron... Yeah, Matt (and Focusrite in general) rock. Even before I bought the Scarlett Matt was popping into thread to provide info. Very cool. Also the one time I put in a support request they got back to me in a day and I wasn't even a registered customer yet.

@Olskool... Yup. Like I said I wasn't sure whether line in was appropriate but I'm still learning. Apparently it is.

Okay, thanks guys. I'll try to remember to update this after I do a test with the line level input. Cheers!

Beepster - I've made note in several posts with your before about this one idea. I have the Focusrite Scralett 18i6 as well. I like it so much in fact I have two (one for the one that's hooked up with 18 inputs to outboard gear, and one that's my travel unit to just get up and go). That said, for electric guitar recording, I prefer my other audio unit which is the Line 6 KB-37. As far as guitar input and recording goes, I get a superior experience with the Line 6 KB37 by far. For everything else I use the Scarlett because of the superior pres, convenient software, and overall sound quality. But for guitar inputs, I'm uber satisfied with the KB37.

@synkrotron:  Thanks for the praise.  We try hard to provide a high level of technical support for our products and part of that includes staying active on online forums such as this.

@Beepster:  I find it interesting that the single coils sound muddy through the Hi-Z.  The hotrail in the middle will probably sound more like a humbucker unless you have it wired to only use one coil.  Also, I would like to know what model the neck pick up is if you get a chance to find out.  Also, I will try to do some tests of my own with some single coils.
In regards to your comment about the gain control not fully attenuating the input, this is typical design for most preamps.  Understand that a gain control and volume control are not necessarily the same thing.  With most gain controls on preamps, the minimum setting = minimum gain applied.   This is opposed to infinite attenuation like a volume control usually has.