Re: [LAU] Edirol FA-101 and output level

Thank you Fons for your commentaries,

I thought about the software option so that's why I've been unsuccessfully
trying to build jack_mixer (I have to build from SVN but there is no
autogen.sh script and autoconf is not working). I like the fact that
jack_mixer has midi control so I can use a external midi controller to
change the levels... but the problem is that if I lower the volume on the
software side and I increase the level on the monitors, then I start hearing
a lot of noise mixed with the (now lower) sound signal (since the analog out
of the FA-101 is still high). This is why I thought an analog mixer between
the FA's outs and the monitors would be better. I researched the XLR
attenuators and I found that paying for two of those (around $35CAN each)
has a higher price than a small mixer (e.g. the Behringer XENYX 502 for
$57CAN), but maybe there are cheaper attenuators around, I'll take a look
(thanks for telling me about them, I didn't thought about it).

If the software solution was the right one, it would be nice if Qjackctl had
a simple mixer for the outputs that remembered settings so each time you
start it you don't have to worry about opening another mixer application and
dealing with all the software connections... but I guess I could just have a
script that runs each time Jack is started.

Cheers!

Hector

On 8/24/07, Fons Adriaensen <fons@email-addr-hidden> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Aug 24, 2007 at 02:15:04AM -0400, Hector Centeno wrote:
>
> > well... tested in Windows and the level is as high as in Linux. There is
> no
> > Edirol control panel or software mixer to lower the levels in the
> interface.
> > I guess I'll have to get a mixer.
>
> A pair of XLR in-line attenuators will be much cheaper !
>
> But I'm convinced that all this is a non-problem if looked at
> in the right way. Consider this:
>
> When using active speakers connected directly to the sound card,
> you want to adjust the individual speaker gains once and then
> forget about them - they are not meant as a 'volume control'.
>
> In that case you adjust the gains of the monitors in such a way
> that a full scale signal from the soundcard produces the _maximum_
> _peak_ volume that you will ever require. This will be much higher
> than the normal listening level, typically 30 dB or so higher.
>
> In such a system you don't have a master volume control in hardware,
> so you need to provide one in software. All applications then should
> connect to the app providing this master volume control instead of
> to the soundcard directly.
>
> In other words, you don't try to use the full range of the sound
> card all the time. If it's 24-bit and good quality there's nothing
> wrong with that.
>
> Imagine that your speakers would have a digital input. That would
> create exactly the same situation - the average digital level you
> would send to them would be quite low.
>
> In this case, consider the software side of your soundcard to be
> the digital input of your speakers. Then it becomes entirely
> logical to put the volume control before the soundcard, i.e. in
> software.
>
>
> --
> FA
>
> Follie! Follie! Delirio vano è questo !
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Linux-audio-user mailing list
> Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
> http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/linux-audio-user
>

-- 
===============================
http://www.hcenteno.net

_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/linux-audio-user
Received on Fri Aug 24 20:15:05 2007