Weak signal

[foxdog175]

I'm new to software-amping a DI signal and need some advice.

I have a POD HD500X and recording that through an interface has always given me a strong, healthy signal.

I just recently purchased the Pantera Amplitube pack and first tried recording directly into my interface. I had a completely weak signal. The waveform looked pretty bad, especially with any kind of finger tapping. It sounded really weak.

I then read that a DI box can help, and that if I had a guitar with active pickups (EMGs) that I should buy a passive DI box, so I picked up the JDI. I still have the same problem. Anything I play through this Dimebag pack sounds pretty bad compared to the kind of signal I can get out of my POD. It's only remotely useful if I'm really attacking the strings.

Do I need to boost my signal somehow before hitting the interface? Should I have picked up the active DI instead of the passive one? How do I get a healthy signal for software-based amping?

[garfy]

Hello foxdog175 and welcome to the forums.

You shouldn't need anything to boost or change the signal before the interface, unless you are going into a mic or line input. If you have an input equipped to accept an instrument level then you should be fine as long as you apply enough input gain on the AI.

What interface are you currently using?

[foxdog175]

I'm using a UAD Apollo Twin. Here's my chain:

K602 Guitar (EMG active pickups) > JDI Direct Box > XLR to interface

The DI Box also has a thru that goes out into the POD HD500X and into the interface. This signal is perfect (as it should be with how hot the signal gets going through the amp sims and effects of the pedal before it even hits the interface).

But the DI line is really weak. If I boost the input level on the interface, the transients end up peaking. There's just so much variance in the DI line depending on how I'm playing. If I really attack the strings, it's ok, but if I do any kind of tapping, the signal is just to weak to sustain.

Attached are the waveforms comparing the POD and the DI. There's just no sustain in the direct line and that sort of makes sense given that it's a completely dry line. Is that normal though? It just doesn't seem useful to use a signal that weak. I must be doing something wrong.

[garfy]

Those levels look about right to me. The POD will output what is effectively a simulated amp signal at line level if that's how you've got the output mode set up.

Your DI track however is just that, the straight sound from your guitar, so you need to apply the amp sim after the DI signal, monitoring that while you're recording - this should then give you the sustain depending on your choice of virtual pedals, amp and cab.

And that is unfortunately where I get a bit hazy with info as I've never used the Apollo Console so wouldn't be able to give you concrete guidance. Basically, you need to route your (live) DI signal into your DAW via Console (I guess). When in your DAW you should instantiate AT4 as an insert on the channel and then only monitor the output of this channel NOT the actual 'dry' input, so all you are hearing is the output of the amp sim. In essence this will be what you have been doing with the POD, in a roundabout sort of way.

The thing to remember is that, with software amp sims and specifically with AmpliTube, the signal recorded is just the DI guitar - bypass AT4 and that's what you'll hear. The beauty of this is that, while your performance is fixed, the amp sound is not so it can be tweaked or even changed wholesale when it comes to mix down.

I would suggest that, if an Apollo user doesn't chime in here with some more experienced guidance, you should open a ticket with official IK Support here https://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support/mi/ and they will be able to give you some more specific one-to-one help.

Hope that makes sense.

[foxdog175]

Thanks for your reply. I did mute the dry line of my console so that I only heard the amp sim.

I might make a support ticket if I can't figure out by tweaking the settings. I'm just not sure the issue is inside of AT4.

I spent a few hours playing around with it last night and then went back to the POD and it was such an enormous difference in tonal strength. The difference was like listening to a real amp vs a really cheap sim'd amp. And I know AT4 has some excellent sims; I've heard plenty of demos, so I'm not convinced it's AT4. I just have to be doing something wrong.

[garfy]

Just in case you haven't tried it:

Once you have set you input level on the AI (so you're not clipping the A/D conversion) there is a further Input level in the bottom left-hand corner of the AT4 GUI. This does not affect the signal level at the A/D but only within AT4 itself. Maybe increasing your signal in the software here will give you the tone/level/sustain you're looking for.

[felipecouto75]

Increase the gain of the interface.

Forget about the red signal in amplitube input. It is not a problem, as long as the interface does not clipp too much.