Hello i recently purcuace a Machinedrum SPS1 MK1 second hand for live performance purpose.
I have it directly to my soundcard (828mk3) to avoid the latency of the ableton live’s monitoring. Today i try to record my work and i noticed that the recording’s volume is really low compare to the volume i have from the machinedrum direct on my soundcard (i have it at 0db in my soundcard’s channel and the master volume of machinedrum to MAX).
The recording volume is really low compare to the volume straight from the card and i cant give more gain because i’ll peak my signal. At the ableton’s live audio channel the recording is maxed at 0db.
Why is happening that? It’s a limitation of the machinedrum? It’s a malfuction? I do something wrong?
How high is the volume on the machines… Remember there is a pre and then the post… I always set the pre to full 90% of the time… And use the post control (seperate from the 8 parameter controls) to adjust the mix when routed to the master out…
Do you get a similar level drop between the direct sound card and Ableton with other sound sources other than the MD? If it’s coming out loud from the sound card directly but not Ableton, then I’d guess that the issue is not the MD. My MD mk1 is pretty damn loud.
The 828 mk3 has quite a few different gain stages.
I own one and use it as my main converter.
I also use it to record my Machinedrum.
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In Ableton, when you are recording on a particular track, the level meter will display the corresponding input level from the recording source.
(When you stop recording, it shows the output level of the track).
In your case, if it is recording at 0dbfs, it means that the signal being recorded is already at maximum. You don’t want to hit it any harder than 0dbfs. Ideally you should be recording -6dbfs below this to prevent clipping.
So it seems like your problem is not with the input level, but the output level.
There are a few different ways the 828 mk3 audio output can be setup.
In the MOTU Audio Setup tool there is an option to allow your operating system to control the output volume level. I have a feeling that your problem lies here.