Calibrating Input Level for Plugins

[Fender56]

You can ask them why a 0.5V signal is showing as -21.4dBFS and 17.6dBu of headroom rather than 12dBu like the specs. I’m not sure anyone one else will have a reason to why it’s not the same.

Isn't that the same as with Helix hardware? Helix hardware has an input pad of 5 db. The headroom results than in 16,5 contrary to the excellsheet of 11,5. Audient 4mk2 starts also with -5 on minimum gain. But perhaps I just understand things wrong.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Isn't that the same as with Helix hardware? Helix hardware has an input pad of 5 db. The headroom results than in 16,5 contrary to the excellsheet of 11,5. Audient 4mk2 starts also with -5 on minimum gain. But perhaps I just understand things wrong.

ohh I missed the -5dB gain. Yeah that makes sense then.

 

[Josetxu]

I also have an Audient MKII and noticed the same. -21.4. I asked Audient support: "DI input gain range is 40db. Is that from -5db to 35db? Just like ID4MKI?" They replied:
"Thank you for your message.
Yes, the iD4 MKII and iD4 MKI has the same DI circuit and gain range."

Thanks! I don't understand why they missed that in the MKII specs, but that solves the mistery.

 

[contrario]

ID14 MKI manual states that the instrument input is 9 dBu whereas MKII's is 12 dBu. If their circuit and gain range are the same, how can the maximum input level of MKII interfaces be 12 dBu?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

ID14 MKI manual states that the instrument input is 9 dBu whereas MKII's is 12 dBu. If their circuit and gain range are the same, how can the maximum input level of MKII interfaces be 12 dBu?

different A/D converters?

 

[contrario]

different A/D converters?

Would that explain the different dBFS reading compared to the Focusrite? If both of their headroom is 12 dBu, shouldn't the readings be the same when fed with 0.5 Vrms at minimum/zero gain?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Would that explain the different dBFS reading compared to the Focusrite? If both of their headroom is 12 dBu, shouldn't the readings be the same when fed with 0.5 Vrms at minimum/zero gain?

It would give different dBFS levels, but the values above are kind of in the other direction

 

[Fender56]

ID14 MKI manual states that the instrument input is 9 dBu whereas MKII's is 12 dBu. If their circuit and gain range are the same, how can the maximum input level of MKII interfaces be 12 dBu?

I was talking about an Audient ID4mk2 vs ID4mk1. Not the ID14.

 

[storming heaven]

In my Audient Evo4, the real value (measured by 2 different methods at 16.2 dBu) differs quite a lot to the official number stated in the user manual (+10 dBu).

They don´t seem to pay much attention to these specs.

Dude... DUDE!!!!

I have the same interface and I hadn't put too much thought into the need for measuring the input cause hey, we already have the value in the manual right?

I had already transitioned from 'turn it up until it's clipping...' to 'put it in zero and trust the given values' but still something wasn't sounding right to my ears when using amp sims (Helix Native, Neural DSP, NAM etc.)

I finally had a chance to try the measurement with a voltmeter (though an old one); lo and behold! The level after measurement for my Audient Evo4 is a whooping 14.6 dBu! The manual states that it's actually 10 dBu... I don't know why it differs so much; maybe there is something wrong with my unit. But they really fudged it up by putting the wrong number in the manual, since Sedaxel had a different value as well.

@MirrorProfiles thank you very much again (and of course, @James Freeman) for keeping this thread going and helping people. Maybe the value for the Audient Evo4 needs to be updated in the Google Sheets table. I don't trust the voltmeter I used that much and if @Sedaxel found the same value twice, I think that should be the norm value for this unit.

And after trying the value Sedaxel gave, playing with 16.2 really opens up the amp sims now. Btw that value is also the same as Audient ID22, I wonder if they mixed it up in the manual-writing stage... Now I have to try all those presets and NAM profiles again with the correct measurement.

 

[Sedaxel]

And after trying the value Sedaxel gave, playing with 16.2 really opens up the amp sims now.

Yeah mate. This gain thing is a night and day difference.

I'm quite sure about the value of my unit because I measured both with Tonocracy tool and the DAW-sine wave method with a brand new multimeter... And the result was exactly the same. I'm glad you found it useful!