I’m brand new to QC, and to modelers/digital devices in general (I’ve always used pedals into tube amps).
I spent a few hours today playing around, learning sounds, etc. And I constantly found myself confused because I was clearly hearing some sort of digital clipping. My input volume meter didn’t show any clipping- I was well in the green. But I could hear that the sound was being digitally distorted. I started with my input gain at 0.0 db, assuming that would be the “default” value I should look for. Later I moved it down to -8 to -12. Is that normal?
Sometimes even at those low input values I’d find I was getting an untrue sound. This was especially problematic if I put a physical drive pedal or compressor (dude, tumnus, and ego) in the input along with my guitar (though to be clear I still had issues even if it was just my guitar in the input and nothing else). I only had an amp and cab block in my grid, and the settings were relatively low.
So then I wasn’t sure if I needed to change any output settings. I was using headphones (3 sleeping kids) and I turned down the headphone output level, but that didn’t really seem to fix the issue. Turning down the multi out knob seemed to help sometimes (I think) but I was still getting digital distortion even while that meter wasn’t red. My results were inconsistent.
Regardless, all of this has led me to see that I really don’t understand the digital parts of gain staging (or really moreso troubleshooting) on a device like this. I spent more time guessing whether my sounds were interacting properly together than actually crafting sounds. Can you help me understand this topic better? I have read the entire manual and I find it helpful in a lot of areas- but not this one.
You should leave the input gain at 0 if you want the QC models to react to the guitar the same as if you were plugged in to an amp. Raising the level is like putting a boost in your chain. You should look at the output level and see if you are clipping there. If so, you need to lower your output on the amp or compressor. You want the output signal close to the clip line, but don’t go over it. Hope this helps.
Thanks so much! That’ll help me build a baseline. I also experimented a bit more today and used different headphones and I’m now pretty convinced part of the issue is that the ones I used yesterday were going bad. But just to make sure I am hearing what all you’re saying: is it corect that if I’m pretty sure my input is good, the next logical thing to look at for clipping would be the final output? And am I right that any other gain changes along the way (like more volume from the amp, a pedal, etc) should just be affecting tone but not causing digital clipping?
More volume from the pedal, and amp will cause clipping if you go over the output meter. But you can lower the output at the output block at the end of the chain to compensate as needed. If you are not clipping but are still hearing distortion from your headphones, there is an issue with some low resistance headphones. Do you know how many ohms yours are rated for? I had to buy a cheap headphone amp to fix the distortion problems with my Audeze headphones because of the impedance. I think Neural claims you can lower the output by 6db and raise the heaphone output +6bd and it should solve the problem too. I’ll see if I can find a link to the forum discussion on it.
We tested to put just a gain block and start raising the level. Headphones start to clip before the red light on the lane output lights up. XLR outs have more headroom and start clipping much later. With 16 ohms headphones, this can be more noticeable.
The headphones’ output has an internal gain stage of +6dB. This could explain why you feel that the signal has more headroom while using the XLR outputs. Using the Headphones level between 0dB and -3dB should be enough to avoid internal clipping. Using Quad Cortex with the Volume wheel at 100 is also safe. Please, double-check if the clipping is gone after doing this.
Notice you can boost the output blocks by accessing the LANE OUTPUT CONTROL from the grid (tap and hold the output blocks to access this menu). After that, please boost the Headphones LEVEL from the I/O Settings as much as you need and check.
Thanks that’s all a huge help! I’m glad first of all to know how things should be working and the right way to fix issues. And you’re probably right about the headphone resistance. I don’t know offhand what they’re rated for but I’ll look into that and I wouldn’t be surprised if that explains it. If you do happen to find that thread by the way, I’d love to read it. Thanks again!
I have followed this advice but, in order to even hear the guitar through my QC and monitors above the sound of the strings in the room, I have to double the volume on my monitors from my usual listening volume
I have the “big knob” at 100
I control my monitor volume via the Genelec GLM hardware knob
When I am listening to music during the day while working, I set my Genelec GLM volume to -50.0dB
However, when I go to play guitar via the QC, I have to turn up the Genelec GLM volume to -25dB and even up to -15dB
However, when I do that, I have to always remember to go into the QC and lower the USB volume output as, otherwise, any tracks I am playing along with in Logic Pro or even on YouTube, would tear a hole in my eardrums were I to listen at that level
So, ultimately, is it normal to have to double the volume in order to hear guitar through the QC compared to when just listening to music, say in Apple Music?
Don’t be afraid to turn down the volume knob below 100 as needed. Yes it does offer the lowest signal/noise ratio but you probably will never hear the difference in day to day. Turn down your usb level from the pull down screen to balance it with your guitar level so you don’t blow your ears out. I usually have to turn the usb input level down 10-12 db.
Turning down the big knob would make it even harder to hear the guitar
Why would turning up the Input gain above 0.0 be a bad idea? When I have it at 0.0 and strum the guitar as hard as I can, I still do not get into the red.
This is what I usually come across when researching input levels on the QC:
This video is not correct- at least in the sense if you want to keep your guitar sounding like it naturally sounds and reacts to an amp. Altering the input levels will alter the guitars gain. You need to focus on the other end of the chain- what is the level of your meters at the output? You can see this if you long press the output block, or look at the meters on the pull down menu for the multi output. Here is where you signal should be close to clipping. If it isn’t, then raise the level at the output block or raise the volume on the amp block.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will never get this configured properly
I will just have to double the volume of my monitors and considerably lower the volume of YouTube or other tracks in my DAW every time I want to hear myself playing guitar
Thanks for the advice but, I’m just not “getting it”
I will say, I also have to use the usb level knob quite a bit for myself. I also have noticed that when recording in Logic, the USB level set to 0.0 is the same level as what my guitar sounds like through the QC. But when I play back audio through Apple music or youtube, I have to reduce the USB level down about 8-10 db. I don’t have a solution for this myself other than adjusting the USB level for whether I plan on recording or just playing over a backing track.
I have a similar situation when i playback music from the mac (oer USB to the quad) it is at very high level and the Mac volume control cant affect the level. I have a separate app that control the volume, or lower the volume using the volume slider in the music app. I think it is the mac playback that is causing the asymetry in your system.
