Gain structure

[Erik]

Hi at all,

i'm new to megadrum and have some questions about the gain. I'm a livesound guy so i'm wondering how to use the gain and HiLevel settings correct. I thought the Gain Settig is a kind of analogue preamp like in mixing desks to adapt the level roughly to the correct value and then i can fine tune with HiLevel. So i thoght, if i'm run into clipping (with HiLevel set to max) i lower the gain value and then it becomes better. But it still seemed to clip after that, only the midi output was not 127 but limited to some value below (around 90). So is this a digital trim and even if i'm below MIDI 127 i could run into clipping?

All above was observed with linear curve settings.

I would find it helpful to monitor the true digital level of the input so that i can see if i run in overload, or how uch headroom there is. And really nice would be a live waveform monitoring of the latest hit, which would be very useful for tweaking pads and so on. Just an idea. I know that this wouldn't work in the actual communication model since there are only midi-signals shared over the usb and i'm not sure if this is worth the time required...

So far from my side, now i'm waiting for your experiences and thougts

[dmitri]

You are correct about Gain and HighLevel. In your case with gain set very low but with signal clipping at less then maximum HighLevel 1023 says that the pad is way too "hot". When a pad is too "hot" and Gain set very low the signal resolution becomes very rough - this may cause the signal to appear to be "clipped" at lower then maximum possible signal. You either need to "cool" the pad mechanically or with a resistor.

[Erik]

Ok, so the lower gain values are theoretically not necessary, right? Which is the gain setting, where midi 127 at HighLevel 1023 corresponds digital FullScale? I've already cooled down my Pad, i just want to understand it as much as possible. BTW: since my problem with much retrigger is solved by cooling down the Pad, it triggers really great, i appreceate it very much

[dmitri]

You still may need to use for lower Gain setting depending the output level from a pad.