Martin E Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Hi folks Can anyone give me some advice regarding my Focusrite Scarlett Solo please. I'm using a Lenovo desktop running Windows 10. Dipping my toe into recording some basslines for my jazz group during these restricted times. I'm a complete newby to all this so please bear with me. I'm just using Audacity and needed a nice little interface. The Solo seemed ideal for me and it arrived today. The trouble is all my basses overload the input and are distorted. I have to turn the volume on the bass way way down and keep the Focusrite gain well into the green to get anything like a clean sound. Pressing the Inst. button makes it sound like an overdrive. Needless to say the 'clean' level is too low to record. I've also noticed playing any recorded bass sounds like a Youtube bass demo are also coming out distorted via the Solo. I'm hoping I'm doing something silly or need to adjust some setting somewhere. I have reinstalled the drivers if anyone asks but don't know what else to do Grateful for any advice please, this thing gets such good reviews but at the moment my new purchase is useless to me and I have several tracks I would like to record. Thanks Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Blank Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Paging @Sibob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 (edited) There may be some misunderstanding about settings here if I have read the post correctly. Usually you would record with your bass volume up full, then temper the ‘Gain’ control at the Solo’s input in order to have the halo LED only ever showing green. The hotter the output of the bass, the less gain needed on the interface for it to sit happily in the green. With regards to output issues, it’s odd that it’s distorting, if you play any audio/music from iTunes/YouTube etc, is that also distorted? You may want to run through some Windows optimization such as in this article: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207355205-Optimising-your-PC-for-Audio-on-Windows-10 If you’re continuing to experience problems, you’re best to contact our tech support teams via here: https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new Usually it’s a small setup issue and they’ll have you up and working straight away, however there are some rare occasions where a hardware fault is present, which will simply mean you’ll be sent a new unit. Cheers Si // Focusrite Edited June 1, 2020 by Sibob 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin E Posted June 1, 2020 Author Share Posted June 1, 2020 Thanks very much sibob, I hadn't realised we had an expert on here. Appreciate your time and comprehensive reply. I'll have a good look through the windows 10 settings. My basses are all active and my main bass is piezoelectric which has quite a high output I believe. I was under the impression the gain should've advanced until just under the orange so I'll try what you suggest and start with the bass on max.( I have read of people using a di box with an attenuation pad switched in to take high output instruments?) I can hear some distortion on bass when outputting to YouTube or whatever which is a bit odd. I'll have a play around and report back. Thanks again Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 (edited) 48 minutes ago, Martin E said: Thanks very much sibob, I hadn't realised we had an expert on here. Appreciate your time and comprehensive reply. I'll have a good look through the windows 10 settings. My basses are all active and my main bass is piezoelectric which has quite a high output I believe. I was under the impression the gain should've advanced until just under the orange so I'll try what you suggest and start with the bass on max.( I have read of people using a di box with an attenuation pad switched in to take high output instruments?) I can hear some distortion on bass when outputting to YouTube or whatever which is a bit odd. I'll have a play around and report back. Thanks again Martin With regards to the gain halo’s, I would always keep yourself in the green....that way you don’t lose a take just because you hit a little harder and peak in the yellow. If you’re always in the yellow, and you accidentally hit a little harder, you’ll clip into the red. You’ll always want the channel set to ‘Inst’ rather than ‘Line’. With regards to output, are you only experiencing the distortion on bass videos? Not on all audio? What are you using to monitor from the Solo? Headphones? Monitor speakers? Are they working correctly? Si // Focusrite Edited June 1, 2020 by Sibob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin E Posted June 2, 2020 Author Share Posted June 2, 2020 Sibob I ran through the Windows optimisation information earlier tonight and had a look at all the settings and made quite a few changes to things I never knew were there to be honest. I am not sure what I have done to help things exactly but it now seems to work as it should and the distortion has disappeared. Thank you so much for your help and time in answering my question. Cheers Martin 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 9 hours ago, Martin E said: Sibob I ran through the Windows optimisation information earlier tonight and had a look at all the settings and made quite a few changes to things I never knew were there to be honest. I am not sure what I have done to help things exactly but it now seems to work as it should and the distortion has disappeared. Thank you so much for your help and time in answering my question. Cheers Martin I’m glad to hear it, if you run into any other issues, feel free to drop me a PM, or just contact Tech Support directly ☺️ Enjoy Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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