How to set up input level

Community General
#1

Hello,

I’m working with archetype Plini, and as with all VST I always have this question:
How to set up correctly the input level?

We know it will have many impacts on the tone:

  • input clipping
  • compression (from the compressor)
  • overdrive/boost pedals (unwanted?) saturation
  • amps gain stage
    …

So how to make the best usage of input level? Which kind of instrument output level is expected by the plugin?
Is there an official procedure to calibrate it to a given guitar output level?

Thanks for sharing your mind about this topic! :blush:

#2

Most of the time you only need to make sure you’re not clipping on the way in (from the guitar to the interface/from the interface to the Plug-In) while maintaining a healthy amount of signal. You also need to check the mic level in the cab section and the global output to avoid clipping. In both cases, you will see a gray indicator at the top of each meter when your signal is clipping.

Regarding Compression/Overdrive saturation, there are a couple of tips to get a better tone, like turning the gain on the overdrive pedal all the way down or avoiding the use of too much compression from the pedal with a heavy rhythm tone since it will raise the noise floor. These are not rules though, there could be certain cases that require exactly the opposite.

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#3

Sorry for late response. Ok nothing special to do apart of making sure the clipping indicators are not triggered.
Thank you! :slightly_smiling_face:

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