No, the mic is totally not causing it. I even just plugged it out and tried again. Still didnt fix it. Daw inputs are correct as well
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Bass is too quiet for recording through interface to pc, please help ;c
- Thread starter Rocky049
- Start date
No, the mic is totally not causing it. I even just plugged it out and tried again. Still didnt fix it. Daw inputs are correct as well
The interface doesn’t have any sort of “compatibility” issues with a bass. It sees a signal and converts it into 1s and 0s for the computer to process. ANY bass that is properly functioning will work with that interface. Based on what’s been said here, It really is likely that there is a bad pot, loose wire, or something else loose in the control cavity.
May need to have it looked at by someone who can rewire it if needed
May need to have it looked at by someone who can rewire it if needed
Even a **new** battery can be dead out of the package (don't ask me how I know that).
Use a meter, a good 9V battery will read 9.7vdc
There you go, full proof going from my les paul to my yamaha bass.
Also yes, battery is fine and put in correctly.
No thats the only cable I have, its also just a month or 2 old...
Because I had that problem with my previous Yamaha bass I bought new batteries last time so Imma try those now...wish me luuuck....nope...nothing...didnt fix it ;-; I guess Imma go and cry in a corner now. jk xd
The Scarlett series of external soundcards, especially the USB-powered ones, are notably lacking in available preamp gain. They'll handle line-level signals and higher-sensitivity condensers just fine, but boosting a low-level signal from a low-sensitivity mic - or an unbalanced high-impedance signal from a bass - just isn't their forte. It's not totally the interface's fault, though there are a few boxes out there with significantly more gain on tap.
There are some things to check; if you're not using the ASIO driver, make sure your Windows mic volume is maxed; videoconferencing and gaming software often pull this level down to avoid clipping. ASIO bypasses the WASAPI system for "desktop audio" (good thing too, as WASAPI latency can easily be in the 50ms range) so input gain trimming shouldn't be an issue. Whatever DAW you're using to record, you can add some digital gain there as well (just be mindful that gain this late will increase the noise floor), and make sure your bass's battery is fresh, as you're depending on that power source giving you the full 9 volts.
However, the interface is still not ideal. Everyone I know who uses a bus-powered Scarlett with anything other than a desktop condenser (including myself) does so with an external preamp of some kind running in front of the Scarlett, so the preamp does the true line boosting while the soundcard is mainly for level trimming and AD/DA conversion. I myself run a small mixing console in front of my 2i4 that has about 60dB of mic gain available, but if you don't happen to have one of those around, the budget option is a simple clean boost pedal like a TC Spark. 30dB of pretty darn clean amplification (with the full-size pedal; the Mini does 20), and staying unbalanced instead of needing the mic input, make this an attractive option if your budget won't cover a true preamp. These start around $150 new for options like the EHX Battalion, more TalkBassy options will be in the $200-$400 range for Tech21, Aguilar, Darkglass etc.
My mic is already plugged out and not getting picked up ;-;
Sry if I talked confusingly in the vid, I meant to say that my mic is plugged out..
Hah. Maybe leave a discrete mark underneath the battery cover or something so you can check?
I think others are right to suggest taking it someone, though. They should be able to pinpoint the problem. You could also ask them to write a sentence or two describing the problem, to send back to the seller. So you can say "look, I took it to a tech, they said the frobulator is dead", instead of just having to say "can't make this one work either!"
Dunno if guitar techs are actually working right now.... Maybe someone could step you through how to test the electronics if you have the right tools.
I have a very similar bass and interface (Yamaha TRBX504 and Scarlett 2i2), and have never seen this problem. It's marketed as working with instrument outputs. And it's working fine for his guitar.
Maybe this isn't the way to get optimal results or something, but it absolutely should work.
What are you settings on the bass' onboard controls (i.e. it's knobs)?
That's confusing. What instrument did you pluck in the first few seconds of the video? Your Les Paul? Did you use the same cable for the bass as whatever you played in the first few seconds?
It's not really possible to have an incompatibility between guitar and interface. It's just an electrical signal no matter what pickups or guitar you use. There CAN be an incompatibility between signal LEVELS between devices - LINE level, MIC level and INSTRUMENT level. All electric guitars/basses output at INSTRUMENT level and most interfaces - yours included - have the ability to input INSTRUMENT LEVEL (as well LINE and MIC level). But I don't think that's the issue here either.
Fact that the interface isn't registering a signal on the bass, I'm narrowing down that the problem is something between the pickups and end of the bass cable (the end you plug into your interface). Could be a bunch of things.
I come back to the battery - is it a fresh battery and is it installed correctly? If you're not using the same cable for the instrument in the first few seconds of the video, do you know if the cable you used on the bass is good? If neither of those seems to be the culprit, you're into the electronics in the guitar - wiring, components from pickup through controls to output jack.
Did you buy this bass new or used?
56db according to Focusrite, which is indeed quite low. That said, it should still be workable even if the gain needs to be up quite high.
@Rocky049 when you turn the gain all the way up and record something with your bass you mentioned seeing the bass recorded, if only faintly, in the waveform in your DAW. Try this: Record something with the gain on the Focusrite set as high as possible without picking up self-noise and then normalize the recorded waveform in your DAW. This isn't a great practice to get into, but it will tell you if things are recording sufficiently above the noise floor and will indicate if this unit's 56db of mic gain is or is not sufficient for recording bass effectively. Many entry level interfaces are pretty wimpy when it comes to direct input from a bass as well as many other sources.
That's a good point - he's got the main vol knob at 100%, but if he's got the 5-way switch and the balance knob working against each other, he's not going to hear anything. Wouldn't be the first time someone with a new bass didn't have the controls figured out - me included....more that once!
So, @Rocky049 - what happens when you move your pickup selector to a different position and move the balance knob (balance between bridge and neck pickups) to a different position.
Try setting those two knobs the middle position for both and report back to us.
yeah, it seems he's tried that - just gets lots of floor/device noise and little signal. I've used that interface and they behave way better than what he's experiencing.
Does your bass work through an amplifier? If it doesn't work on your interface but your guitar does then that would be my next check, to see if it's the bass itself or if it's the interface.
Looking at this video, my control knob theory (aka "pilot error") seems to be supported.
You've got the balance knob turned to the bridge pickup (silences the neck pickup) and your 5-position switch is selected for the neck pickup (silences the bridge pickup). Those two controls set that way defeat the signal going out of the bass. The fact that you get a *little* signal through is a function of the crosstalk in the bass's circuitry.
@Rocky049, like I said above - switch both the balance control and the 5-way switch to their middle positions, volume on 100%, hit a note and let us know how it turns out.
