M-Audio 2496 soundcard

[raveon]

Hi there.

Just bought an M-Audio 2496 soundcard. I intend to transfer my vinyls to cd (many).
The 2496 sounds great but I want to know what’s going on, so I wonder if anyone out the can supply me with more information than the manual does.
I don’t need any kind of mixing at all – just plain stereo from the vinyl – but I want my recordings to get as close as possible to 0 dB in my recording software (CoolEditPro), since I would prefer not to normalize afterwards.
The problem is, that in the Delta Control Panel, there is no way to set the recording level. What hits the input plugs goes directly to the AD-converter (I think) and to the output sockets. This is okay with me, but the meters in the DCP shows heavy overload – it seems that the metering software checks directly in the input? Is there anyway one can adjust (lower) the gain of the input stage?
For the moment I’ve solved the problem with a dividing network at the output of phonoamp, but I had to lower the output too much (-10 dB) to be sure that an lp with high output will not cause input distortion. Yes I know that I could use a quality pot, but things had to be done very quickly. I’m using an Ortofon GT (8 mV output) pickup and my phonoamp has a gain of 40 dB (1kHz), and I guess that’s where the problems begins?
So now I’m thinking of bying the smallest Behringer mixer. Good idea or???
Any suggestions?

Regards

raveon

[carlosfm]

raveon, if you're a purist, forget the digital volume.
Put a pot before the line in and adjust the volume that way.

[ojg]

I have the same card and no, there is no other way than to add an attenuator in front of the ADC input.