Forum rss-feed

Forum

Pico: Distortion on piano, bass patches.

Most Recent

written by: geert

I don't have this problem, sorry. When I turn the master volume down everything sounds as it should with the Pico, even compared to iTunes, etc. It's probably best to contact support and see if they can help you out.

written by: TomSwirly

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:18:21 +0000 GMT

I have my system turned way down. Yet I distinctly hear distortion on the piano and electric bass patches of the instrument... anyone else experiencing this?


written by: scrussey

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:41:26 +0000 GMT

yes I experience this when hitting the keys hard... and I have mentioned it to Eigenlabs

I find it hard to play a run with all the notes at equal volume, some sound too soft, some too loud - maybe it's a simple case of Eigenlabs adjusting the dynamic range... or getting used to playing in a different way


written by: geert

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:42:28 +0000 GMT

I have exactly the same issue, even with the 1.0.1 software update :-/


written by: geert

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:47:47 +0000 GMT

I think I found a solution to this, when you go into Instrument/FX Control, the master volume can be turned down. When I did this I don't get the distortion anymore.


written by: TomSwirly

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:57:05 +0000 GMT

Urg. Sometimes this machine is impenetrable!

How exactly do you change the volume from that page? I went there and pressed the Master Volume Up/Down button a few times, but it didn't seem to go up or down...

Is there a way to audition the sound as you go?


written by: aaronw

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:50:53 +0000 GMT

Hi all,

gbevin is correct - thanks for that Geert!

We will be releasing video tutorial 4 shortly which will cover mixer control including using the master volume control.

Cheers

Aaron
Customer Support


written by: TomSwirly

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:39:31 +0000 GMT

It's actually a Good Thing for right now - it teaches me the soft touch!!

Still working on my scales. It comes very easily though... the trouble is not getting your fingers to fall over themselves....


written by: geert

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:04:38 +0000 GMT

Hi Tom,

If you are in the instrument control page, you can press the third key on the right to show the mixer in the browser. This allows you to see the changes you do with the master volume key (2nd on the right).

Hope this helps,

Geert


written by: TomSwirly

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:25 +0000 GMT

OK. This worked but bring up the next question: why are the sounds so quiet? (I'm listening to the bass, eg...)

I turned the master level down to the point where there's no more distortion. Great!

Except that I now have to turn the volume on my whole computer WAAAY up to get even a reasonable sound. I know that if I played iTunes at this volume I'd blow my ears out...

This is all very exciting, finding all these control pages for example. wowowow!


written by: geert

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:27:28 +0000 GMT

They seem fine to me, I checked the meters in my Metric Halo mixer and when I set the master volume to 110 I get no distortion and the instruments almost go to 0dB. Maybe turn up your speakers?


written by: TomSwirly

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:24:05 +0000 GMT

"Maybe turn up your speakers."

My speakers are already very loud.

I do a gazillion sound things on this computer. I run various music programs, like Live and Max; I listen to iTunes; I watch YouTube and other video channels.

All of these are perfectly loud. Indeed, I usually have my system master volume set to about 3 or 4 out of 10 which is fine for casual listen, and might crank it up to 10 only when I'm playing with multiple musicians.

However, in order to hear the Eigenharp at any reasonable volume, I have to crank it to 10. And even at 10, when I turn the instrument master down enough that the distortion goes away, it's quiet enough that it's hard to distinguish the exact pitch when I'm playing softly.

As I wrote in my previous post, "I know that if I played iTunes at this volume I'd blow my ears out..." - and in fact, I did that since I wrote those words, turned on itunes while I was turned up so I could hear this instrument, and probably half the building heard it.

Such problems always have the same cause - the signal path is not "unity gain".

Somewhere in the whole Eigen signal path, there's some point where the signal gets far too loud - thus the distortion at "very low" levels. And later on in that signal path, there's a spot where there's a corresponding cut - so the result is that it's too soft coming out. It's pretty serious, 12dB or more!

The result is a low signal level and dramatically reduced headroom.

Unfortunately, we don't see where this is happening... the level controls we see are at a certain point in the chain, after the first bad point and before the second.


written by: TomSwirly

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:24:41 +0000 GMT

(Also, other people have reported the distortion - I'm not the only one!)


written by: geert

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:26:01 +0000 GMT

I don't have this problem, sorry. When I turn the master volume down everything sounds as it should with the Pico, even compared to iTunes, etc. It's probably best to contact support and see if they can help you out.



Please log in to join the discussions