Hi,
There has been a very interesting post about audio levels on Contrebombarde:
Contrebombarde article
One of the recommendations in case of distorted sound was to check the audio levels and to make sure that if you are using consumer grade hardware that the HW audio level is set to -10dB while for pro-grade it can be up to +4dB.
This was based on the wikipedia article for audio levels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level
As can be seen there ARE different levels for consumer grade and pro-grade hardware but a closer look emphasizes that it is not just a difference of +14dB. Instead both standards are actually using different units (consumer grade = dBV (decible Volt), pro-grade dBu (decible unloaded ... in contrast to the archaich telephone standard which was loaded with a 600Ohm impedance)).
Looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel#Voltage
it is clear that while both units are connected they are not the same and in particular that the difference in sound-level from -10dBV to +4dBu is not 14dB.
Now the important question is: How does HW link into these two standards. In particular how does the unit-less audio level in Hauptwerk relate to the physical units of dBV and dBu.
Going even further: what would the recommended settings be for consumer grade and for pro-grade hardware?
Thanks you very much
Best regards
Mathis
There has been a very interesting post about audio levels on Contrebombarde:
Contrebombarde article
One of the recommendations in case of distorted sound was to check the audio levels and to make sure that if you are using consumer grade hardware that the HW audio level is set to -10dB while for pro-grade it can be up to +4dB.
This was based on the wikipedia article for audio levels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level
As can be seen there ARE different levels for consumer grade and pro-grade hardware but a closer look emphasizes that it is not just a difference of +14dB. Instead both standards are actually using different units (consumer grade = dBV (decible Volt), pro-grade dBu (decible unloaded ... in contrast to the archaich telephone standard which was loaded with a 600Ohm impedance)).
Looking at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel#Voltage
it is clear that while both units are connected they are not the same and in particular that the difference in sound-level from -10dBV to +4dBu is not 14dB.
Now the important question is: How does HW link into these two standards. In particular how does the unit-less audio level in Hauptwerk relate to the physical units of dBV and dBu.
Going even further: what would the recommended settings be for consumer grade and for pro-grade hardware?
Thanks you very much
Best regards
Mathis