rob_gould
Well-known member
I'm just starting to test a project and I've found something during set up for the test which I did not expect.
I've just got a new audio interface - Motu 16A, and when I generate a 1kHz test tone in Cubase and then loop it out of the soundcard and directly back into inputs on the 16A, there's a drop in level of about 1.5dB.
I'm using 60cm balanced patch cables to connect the interface outs to ins directly.
I'm generating the tone using Cubase's internal tone generator and a free meter plugin to see the levels more easily than Cubase's built in mixer meters.
The faders on Cubase's mixer are flat.
The meter plugin is set to post fader.
No processing, eq or additional gain settings or anything else are applied either on Cubase or in the Motu mixer GUI.
Basically, nothing should be boosting or attenuating the signals going out or coming in.
Two questions...
- Is this normal? Should I expect this level drop when just looping audio interface output to input?
- If this is normal, what's the best way to compensate when doing things like setting unity gain on equipment I'm testing? Presumably I increase the gain on the input channels by 1.5dB to compensate for the drop so that it doesn't appear that my equipment under test is dropping the signal by 1.5dB. Is this the correct way to compensate?
Attached is a screenshot. Right hand side is tone out; left hand side is tone back in.
Cheers,
Rob
I've just got a new audio interface - Motu 16A, and when I generate a 1kHz test tone in Cubase and then loop it out of the soundcard and directly back into inputs on the 16A, there's a drop in level of about 1.5dB.
I'm using 60cm balanced patch cables to connect the interface outs to ins directly.
I'm generating the tone using Cubase's internal tone generator and a free meter plugin to see the levels more easily than Cubase's built in mixer meters.
The faders on Cubase's mixer are flat.
The meter plugin is set to post fader.
No processing, eq or additional gain settings or anything else are applied either on Cubase or in the Motu mixer GUI.
Basically, nothing should be boosting or attenuating the signals going out or coming in.
Two questions...
- Is this normal? Should I expect this level drop when just looping audio interface output to input?
- If this is normal, what's the best way to compensate when doing things like setting unity gain on equipment I'm testing? Presumably I increase the gain on the input channels by 1.5dB to compensate for the drop so that it doesn't appear that my equipment under test is dropping the signal by 1.5dB. Is this the correct way to compensate?
Attached is a screenshot. Right hand side is tone out; left hand side is tone back in.
Cheers,
Rob