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Just joined. I am building a small project studio. I have a problem with hiss even when gains are turned all the way down. Is this common with the Edirol DA PCI 2496. How can I stop hiss.

Also can anyone recommend a good budget stereo compressor for recording a motif 6 synth pads, bass and percussion into computer.

Cheers

Complex.

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David French Sun, 01/16/2005 - 15:25

Welcome to RO complex!

Where is the hiss coming from? It is normal to hear a small ammount of his from powered monitor speakers. I doubt it's the fault of the Edirol. You need to do some diagnostic experiments... unplug things one at a time and see if you can deduce the source that way.

Without a doubt, the compressor you should buy is the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.fmraudio…"]RNC[/]="http://www.fmraudio…"]RNC[/] by FMR Audio. Cheap as hell ($175) and quite transparent. If you need plain and simple compression, this is definitely the one.

anonymous Mon, 01/17/2005 - 01:07

thanks for reply

I have M-Audio BX5 active monitors so perhaps this is the problem. Ill do the disconnection thing.

I have heard good things about the RNC but have yet been able to hear it in action. ( I live out in the country side ).

Any comparisons I should/could check out online.

Thanks again.

C:lol: mpLeX

anonymous Thu, 01/20/2005 - 09:08

Well...what I ment to say was that my DA2496 doesn't exhibit any abnormal hiss....I've yet to see an amp that don't produce at least a small amount of hiss when cranked to the max.

I think you could safely concentrate on other possibilities for the source of the hiss besides the normal functionality of the DA2496....hissing is not something I've ever had any trouble with when I operate mine...maybe you are having a grounding problem, or maybe something is not hooked up right....possibly even a bad cable.

Your DIGITAL outs on your DA2496 are referred to as DA OUT 1/2, by default, and appear as the first column under the patchbay/router tab in your DA2496 software control panel...you can select what goes to this designated set of outs in the control panel software by selecting the radio button next to the various source selections that appear on down the column.

The "Wave Out 1/2" column selection would send recorded wave files to the DA OUT 1/2 outputs from your application software, while the "Monitor Mixer" selection would send out DA OUT 1/2 anything being monitored under the control panel's "Monitor Mixer" tab...and the other selections in the control panel column are the various DA2496 inputs, that, when selected, allow the software control panel to function as a patchbay, sending the a selected input directly to the DA 1/2 OUT.

Of course the DA OUT 1/2 designation itself is multi-functional, and can be used to represent the SPDIF digital coax OUT (the rca connector on the back), the digital optical OUT (the optical connector on the back), or the TRS 1/2 analog OUT (the set of TRS connector OUTs on the back labeled "monitor").

You can only use ONE of these types of outs at a time...you'll notice that each of these physical outs carrys the additional label "1/2" printed next to it on the breakout box case (meaning that they all three share the "DA OUT 1/2" designation in the software)...you make the distinction which of those outs actually are DA OUT 1/2 by which ones you have your cables connected to.

So...if you want DA OUT1/2 to represent the digital optical OUT, don't connect anything to the digital SPDIF OUT, or the TRS analog OUTs 1/2 (labeled "monitor") on the back of the breakout box.

The great thing about the DA2496 is that you can still monitor your output additionally over monitor speakers while using the DA OUT 1/2 as digital out going to something like a mini-disk recorder...you just have to connect your monitoring speakers to a different set of TRS analog outs on the back, like DA Out 3/4, DA Out 5/6, or DA Out 7/8.

Since DA2496 is a multi-port audio interface you have can have up to 8 outs at the same time.

I like my DA2496 very much...I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a better sounding more functional audio interface...but since it has so many features it can be a bit of a challenge to learn to use.

:P

anonymous Tue, 01/25/2005 - 10:06

yah...there is just no way to make it really simple...if you found it hard to understand my last post, try reading it again...I went back and edited it to try and make it more understandable.

You don't really appreciate just how difficult it is to use DAW equipment successfully until you try writing about it...sheesh!...no wonder the manufacturers put out such crappy user manuals...:?