can somone please tell me why my presonus mixer studiolive 16.0.2 is distorted when drive to the max?
Probably you can't drive it to the max and expect it not to distort. It has some extra amplification in case its needed for weak input signals. But if you input a strong signal, then the extra gain is too much and will distort. Turn down the channel input level control if there is one. That should limit the amplifier gain for that channel. Maybe there is a red light that flashes if the level it too high and will cause distortion. Something like that. Should be explained in the manual.
the output dont reach red light but yet still i get didtortion..... it will work ok with nice and clean audio while the output indicators is half way and a little above half way,,.. i does have to turn my powered monitors about like 3/4 volume to get reasonable audio......... this was never like this
Maybe because Presonus have symmetrical output, your monitors too and you previously had a mixer which had asymetrical output: if so you gained +6db and if previous mixer was semi pro ( -10dbv ref level) then you can add 14db to the +6db already gained running symetrical...
Iow, we need more precision: did you have changed gear, when you said 'this was never like this' : when, relative to a change made recently,...? 😉
Iow, we need more precision: did you have changed gear, when you said 'this was never like this' : when, relative to a change made recently,...? 😉
Nothing was changed..,. I just simply have a lost in drive from the mixer.., the indicators does not reach red, but I still get a bit distortion...... I have to stay a bit away from the 3/4 mark of the led indicators inorder to have clear audio
Maybe turn up your powered monitors all the way and turn down the mixer, that will lower the level from the mixer and hopefully prevent the distortion.
Jan
Jan
Ok.
Here is some possible things to check:
_ anything on master buss: eg it can be a compressor or limiter on a post fader slot with make up gain open,
_ do you have a 'sensitivity' setting somewhere on the desk ( in set up parameters or a physical one where you could switch from -10dbv to +4dbu)?
_ on loudspeakers check for the same thing a switch which would change sensitivity,
_ check your cables from desk to loudspeakers.
If none of this is the culprit then go downstream from the 2tracks ( main output) of the console's signal path ( mixbus, groups (if used), chanel). Check for the gain staging.
With digital console it's easy to implement something like a vca and forget about it...
Check your solo and metering options too: you might have engaged a mode where your metering is prefader or ips or 2track direct... it can easily be misleading.
Do you use the main output or the dedicated control room/monitor section to drive your loudspeakers? If control room/monitor then check if DIM value have changed or if you were not using the DIM previously and switched it off without noticing... ( happened all the time with 'green' engineers on big analog consoles).
Check metering options too, if a solo is engaged somewhere ( even on a bus) what is displayed might be wrong...
Here is some possible things to check:
_ anything on master buss: eg it can be a compressor or limiter on a post fader slot with make up gain open,
_ do you have a 'sensitivity' setting somewhere on the desk ( in set up parameters or a physical one where you could switch from -10dbv to +4dbu)?
_ on loudspeakers check for the same thing a switch which would change sensitivity,
_ check your cables from desk to loudspeakers.
If none of this is the culprit then go downstream from the 2tracks ( main output) of the console's signal path ( mixbus, groups (if used), chanel). Check for the gain staging.
With digital console it's easy to implement something like a vca and forget about it...
Check your solo and metering options too: you might have engaged a mode where your metering is prefader or ips or 2track direct... it can easily be misleading.
Do you use the main output or the dedicated control room/monitor section to drive your loudspeakers? If control room/monitor then check if DIM value have changed or if you were not using the DIM previously and switched it off without noticing... ( happened all the time with 'green' engineers on big analog consoles).
Check metering options too, if a solo is engaged somewhere ( even on a bus) what is displayed might be wrong...
I won't do that Jan, it's a recipe for disaster with consoles. And when i say disaster i'm not kidding as i've killed a pair of ( pricey) monitors that way ( because someone played with the monitor section of console when i was doing something else in the studio without warning me...). Happily it wasn't the Kinoshita's RM-4 which were used at that moment: we probably would have lost our ears as well as the monitors if it had been the case. And i would had to sell my house to compensate for the loudspeakers loss... 😧😱
When there is an issue with signalflow lower the level to barely audible and check at low level until diagnosis is done, you never know ( one thing to remember with studio console is there is a whole palette of possible feedback generators availlable, from routing ( internaly) but from build in mic too- talkback section).
Better be safe than sorry.
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Yes i agree. And it's a way to check if you understood the console's architecture.
This can be a nightmare though... i remember discovering ways to generate fedback loops on the headphone's drummer monitoring without any possible way to know or being advised it happen on Neve VR consoles. Had bad sleeps for some days given the level used by some drummers i worked with at the time.
Or my first digital console which didn't had bargraph option availlable... only the tiny screen... spend hours searching for issues like the one Sherwin have.
You have to be patient and resilient! 🙂
This can be a nightmare though... i remember discovering ways to generate fedback loops on the headphone's drummer monitoring without any possible way to know or being advised it happen on Neve VR consoles. Had bad sleeps for some days given the level used by some drummers i worked with at the time.
Or my first digital console which didn't had bargraph option availlable... only the tiny screen... spend hours searching for issues like the one Sherwin have.
You have to be patient and resilient! 🙂
Yes this way works well., But I will rather to have the real drive that the mixer should have