Hey there! Love the QC, kudos to NDSP for developing this jewel!
I am wondering if there is any kind of built-in noise gate that cannot be turned off because when working with relatively weak signals the output seems to be affected quite drastically.
In the image is what I get by looping back from the QC with no effects in the signal chain. I have switched off the noise gate in the input block. The envelope decays way too fast in the signal looped back from the QC. I guess there is no way to upload audio files?
At the same time, when rolling back the volume knob, at some point the signal seems to be heavily affected by some kind of noise suppression algorithm.
You might just be dealing with the degradation that happens with low quality converters. I’m not saying the converters in the QC are bad, but they are not as good as dedicated converts that cost $1000’s per channel.
The Scarlett’s converters that only cost a couple hundred bucks are for sure sub par. You can tell how great converters are by sending an audio file through the output then back in and recording the signal. Then taking that new file and running it again. After a few round trips, compare that new file to the original. This test will magnify what your converters are doing to the audio you’re recording. If the converters are good, you should be able to go several round trips before you start to hear a difference.
Your chain you are describing above has 4 sets of conversion. D to A out of the Scarlett, A to D by the QC, D to A out of the QC, the A to D by the Scarlett again.
The gate should not be placed at the input. It works better later in the chain. Espessially with more gain. Try placing a gate after amp capture and compressors and see what you think.
dunno about that one. Most people gate at input before it hits the amp, so it’s not compressed through the amp like the rest of the signal. High gain gating in the fx loop is a thing with amps with excessive noise, but that isn’t the issue here.
Yes , maybe they do. Still that doesn´t prove it´s the best thing to do. Try putting the gate after amp-module and see what you think. I personally experience a sound-quality-dicrease when the gate is at the input. Speaking clearly, It sounds like shit
If you’re playing shows at all at high gain, not using a gate would be horrible. In my situation anyway. I’ve found gating after the amp to not achieve anywhere near the level of cut I need. There’s a reason just about every high gain amp user in the world gates at input when it comes to cutting unwanted feedback and other noise.
The AD/DA conversion of my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 clearly does much better than the one on the QC. I neither hear nor “see” big issues with that. When I add the QC to the loop the signal is quite different, to the point that when I roll back the volume some notes are just disappearing at the output.
Cable question: How are you connecting the Scarlett to the QC? Are you coming out of the Scarlett using a balanced line level output? Like TRS or XLR into the QC as a balanced signal on TRS or XLR? Or are you using an unbalanced 1/4" cable TS? If the connections on the Scarlett are balanced line outputs, you might need to make sure you’re going in the QC using a line level balanced input. Or use some sort of re-amp box to take the signal from balanced back to a guitar level unbalanced signal.
Then also make sure if you’re using the XLR outputs of the QC, that you have the proper cables to go balanced into the Scarlett.
It’s all with unbalanced cables, but I don’t think that’s the problem.
The setup with the Scarlett is just a way to visualize what I hear quite clearly: there seems to be some kind of permanent noise gate somewhere which highly degrades slightly weaker signals. If I play directly through the Scarlett I don’t hear any issue, which is kind of surprising given the difference in cost of the two devices (1.6kUSD for the QC vs 200 USD for the Scarlett). Either my QC has some issues or I guess it’s quite easy to reproduce: just remove all effects from the signal chain and turn off the noise suppression in the input block. Then play with, e.g., a single coil pickup and roll back the volume. Below a certain threshold, it could be 70% or 50% (still totally fine if I play, e.g., a real amp or through the Scarlett) the notes are very much “choked” away at the output.
I did a test here with my Strat. It has vintage pickups in it, and a generally lower output than “modern” Strats. Even with the volume control on 2, I"m still getting a very clear ringout and decay. Nothing sounds weird or cut off on mine. It’s super quiet, but it’s there.
I did the test with a blank preset and verified that the input gate was off.
hmm interesting, maybe my QC has an issue then what if you do the same experiment as I did with the audio card in the loop? any visible/audible difference?
what if you do the same experiment as I did with the audio card in the loop? any visible/audible difference?