Mayday! Mayday! Audio interface clipping...

[dtsamples]

The mixer needs to be set way lower than you think. You want tons of headroom. Keep your channel sliders in the daw down as low as -16 to -20 while recording. The channel input on your interface should be only about a quarter to a third of the way up. You want to see the clip light barely flash when you really dig in. The gain meter in your DAW shouldn’t reach yellow while recording. In mix down you can let the master gain meter get to yellow at times to taste but individual channels should almost always be green with about 6 to 12db headroom. You can always make it louder during mixdown.

 

[brianrost]

From what I'm reading it's just the headphones clipping. If the signal meters are in the green, the interface is not clipping and the feed to the computer should be fine.

I'm another Focusrite user (Pro 40) who never had clipping issues with the headphone output. I never liked using phones for practicing bass because guess what, they would always start breaking up before they were loud enough for my taste.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I wonder if it could have something to do with mismatched sample rates. Daw set to record at a different rate than the interface is capturing.

I don’t know this unit in particular, but a similar thing would happen with my old Mbox.

 

[Claymore]

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!!!!!... and boy do I feel stupid. When I usually listen to my Zoom B3, it is going into a crappy Behringer Micro Mixer and that requires a MONO 1/4" out, so that's the adapter I had on my headphones for practicing. When I listened to the Scarlett through this mono tip, it caused me to crank up the gain in order to hear it in my phones. As soon as I realized that I still had the wrong tip on there, I switched it to a stereo and tadaaa... No more clipping! Bass sounds nice and clear. Thank you, TBers, for your patience and we'll thought-out suggestions. If anyone needs me, I'll be locked into my studio for a few weeks with nothing but bass riffs and stale animal crackers. Peace!

 

[Claymore]

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I wonder if it could have something to do with mismatched sample rates. Daw set to record at a different rate than the interface is capturing.

I don’t know this unit in particular, but a similar thing would happen with my old Mbox.

I was thinking that. Sample/sync rates might not be set up right.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!!!!!... and boy do I feel stupid. When I usually listen to my Zoom B3, it is going into a crappy Behringer Micro Mixer and that requires a MONO 1/4" out, so that's the adapter I had on my headphones for practicing. When I listened to the Scarlett through this mono tip, it caused me to crank up the gain in order to hear it in my phones. As soon as I realized that I still had the wrong tip on there, I switched it to a stereo and tadaaa... No more clipping! Bass sounds nice and clear. Thank you, TBers, for your patience and we'll thought-out suggestions. If anyone needs me, I'll be locked into my studio for a few weeks with nothing but bass riffs and stale animal crackers. Peace!

Ha! I was right the first time. I rock

 

[2thAche]

I didn't read all the replies, but what are your PC specs? You need to have a decently fast rig, and you can't have web browsers etc open. I also use a program that disables power saving features while using the Scarlet interface for recording etc. If your PC is older, slow or low on memory you'll get clipping. If you have background programs using resources you'll get clipping. I've set up Scarlets in multiple PCs if you need info

 

[JKos]

I didn't read all the replies

He figured it out. See post #24.

 

[Claymore]

I didn't read all the replies, but what are your PC specs? You need to have a decently fast rig, and you can't have web browsers etc open. I also use a program that disables power saving features while using the Scarlet interface for recording etc. If your PC is older, slow or low on memory you'll get clipping. If you have background programs using resources you'll get clipping. I've set up Scarlets in multiple PCs if you need info

All set now. Thank you for the offer, though.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!!!!!... and boy do I feel stupid. When I usually listen to my Zoom B3, it is going into a crappy Behringer Micro Mixer and that requires a MONO 1/4" out, so that's the adapter I had on my headphones for practicing. When I listened to the Scarlett through this mono tip, it caused me to crank up the gain in order to hear it in my phones. As soon as I realized that I still had the wrong tip on there, I switched it to a stereo and tadaaa... No more clipping! Bass sounds nice and clear. Thank you, TBers, for your patience and we'll thought-out suggestions. If anyone needs me, I'll be locked into my studio for a few weeks with nothing but bass riffs and stale animal crackers. Peace!

congrats!

 

[PlatoFunFactory]

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!!!!!!... and boy do I feel stupid. When I usually listen to my Zoom B3, it is going into a crappy Behringer Micro Mixer and that requires a MONO 1/4" out, so that's the adapter I had on my headphones for practicing. When I listened to the Scarlett through this mono tip, it caused me to crank up the gain in order to hear it in my phones. As soon as I realized that I still had the wrong tip on there, I switched it to a stereo and tadaaa... No more clipping! Bass sounds nice and clear. Thank you, TBers, for your patience and we'll thought-out suggestions. If anyone needs me, I'll be locked into my studio for a few weeks with nothing but bass riffs and stale animal crackers. Peace!

Glad your got it solved! You may want to edit your original post now to say “solved” to prevent yourself getting another 50 solutions.

 

[Discount Bassy]

Winner!

 

[filmtex]

Glad you figured it out.

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Focusrite comes with a free version of Ableton live. I had clipping too and what I did is remove every DAW I tried and remove the focusrite. I reinstalled the Focusrite with the driver for my computer then I installed only one DAW and followed the instruction on Ableton (my daw) to be sure it was setup right.

not any problem anymore

 

[InhumanResource]

View attachment 3917805 So, let me start off by saying that until recently, I've had almost zero experience recording on a DAW. I've recorded on a long line of various multi-track recorders. So I decided to build a basic setup and what I have now is a Zoom B3 (using the balanced DI output) into a Focusrite Scarlett Solo into a brand new HP running FL Studio 20 Producer.... It clips like crazy on every setting. Both active and passive basses. I've used XLR out of the B3 into the mic XLR on the Scarlett and also the 1/4" instrument input and it clips on both. I've plugged a bass directly into the 1/4" side and it clips. The gain only makes it quieter and the entire time it's in the green, it's very audibly clipping. Not musical either but harsh and grainy. I just purchased a Radial Pro48 DI box to put between the B3 and the Scarlett but I don't know if this is going to cure the problem. It should arrive in a few days. Am I missing something? I keep reading lots of good comments about the Focusrite Scarlett Solo on TB and no one seems to be having this problem. Are all of you Scarlett owners using DI boxes? Any advice would be appreciated. I just want a clean bass signal going into my DAW. Thanks in advance!

The Zoom B3 is pretty useful but I find it to have an insanely hot output that overdrive just about every I plug it into. Can you pad the input on your scarlett?