Just a quick question. When I up graded my sound card to the M- audio fire wire I noticed that I'm no longer having clipping problems unless i get really wild with the gain. Why is this :?: ?The reason I'm asking is that some one on another forum is saying that the sound card alone can't solve clipping problems unless it has a limiter.
"Clipping problems CAN'T vanish with a sound card upgrade UNLESS your new
sound card also had a built-in limiter of some sort that you didn't realize
you were using, or that was enabled by default."
Thanks --the dog
Relying on a limiter is not the best way, a limiter is pretty much a compressor with a high compression ratio so if you are driving an input too hard then you will be altering the dynamics possibly much more than you really want to. Ideally you will have the signal optimised at every stage, if the card's input is clipping then you are simply driving it too hard.
If the card has no clipping light or level indicators then this can be a matter of trial and error. Also knowing where the clipping is actually ocuring, card input, mixer output (analouge clipping / distortion) etc..
If you are not getting unwanted noise then keeping the signals lower is probably the easiest way. If your problem is lack of volume then the problem might be in software i.e.. Windows mixer, unless you are using ASIO which will send the signal straight to the software but depending on your card may also have a software mixer to control input levels.
Lee
Actually using a good limiter can allow you to keep much of the dynamic. A limiter at a high threshold (say -3db) will allow you keep the dynamics of a song with varied volume levels without totally squashing your track. That being said, it's not the best way to prevent clipping. It's a tool that should be used only when needed.
There are a couple of reasons why you don't experience as much clipping with the M-audio Card:
2)Fewer Gainstages. With the Soundblaster cards you have the virtual preamp plus you generally have to use a mixer, with it's own preamps, to bring your guitar/mic signal to line level. The Firewire 410 has decent preamps and no additional gain stage in the supporting software.
I checked and I don't think your new firewire soundcard has a built in automatic limiter built into it. It does however have a wider range of signal management. Your new one does have a source input control which will stop clipping if it is not at the max. Drive that to the top and I bet you start clipping again. Atleast my PerUSB works that way.
Your original sound card was probably also clipping because it could not handle the range your mixer or guitar was sending and did not have a good input level control.
As always, THANKS guys :D :D :D
