• Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Topic: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

So I have been using my RME Babyface Pro to record DI guitar tracks to be reamped later. My guitar is going into a Radial J48 DI then to Input 2 on the Babyface via XLR. All was going great.

I tested out some reamping through my Kemper and then when I finished and plugged everything back in and started recording more I noticed the DI signal is now significantly quieter and worse. It sounds almost farty and like its clipping. The wave forms also look way different, with almost no bottom end. I could attach a picture showing the DI before and after. There is a clear difference.

I've tried other guitars but got the same result. I tested out the Input 3 which seemed very quiet as well, i could almost get a usable DI signal by turning the Gain up to 9, but that doesnt seem right.

I am really a loss here, any help would be much appreciated.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

did phantom get turned off?  accidentally hit  pad or low cut?

3 Reply by shermanns13 (edited by shermanns13 2020-06-17 20:45:10)

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Phantom is turned on. I dont think pad or low cut is, but where would i find those? Sorry, fairly new to the Babyface.

Edit: Pad is not turned on. When i do the signal gets much weaker as expected.

Edit: There are no FX or EQ turned on in TotalMix. This new DI problem extends to both Input 1 and 2.

4 Reply by nateandrews (edited by nateandrews 2020-06-17 20:49:33)

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

have to think it's the radial, odds that both of your RME inputs went titties up are very low.'

the j48 has a bass cut button on it at teh XLR output side, check that.

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

No lowcut on the J48. The damn thing is less than 6 months old, bought brand new.
Anyway, the DI being the issue crossed my mind. Ill order a new one off Amazon and report back. Dunno how I would have managed to break this though.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Have you looked into Countryman Type 85?  10M OHM vs the 220k ohm of the radial.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

and its super unlikely that you broke the radial.  have you verified the RME settings?  I find it strange that out of nowhere 2 of your rme inputs are failing.  those radials are built very well and seems odd that even your Di box would fail.  i would exhaust all t- shooting before getting jeff bezos involved.

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

I find it odd too. I just checked and confirmed it is receiving phantom power from the RME. I am not real sure what to look for / check within TotalMix or the RME settings. Like I said, it was literally working and tracking DIs fine.

Resetting the mix has not changed or fixed the problem.
Changing the TotalMix operational mode to DAW also did not fix the problem.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

what does a DI sound like if you plug your guitars directly into the BF?

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Plugging it into Inputs 3 and 4 sounds good. Waveform looks even, etc.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

so try a mic in the XLR in and see if it soudns normal.. if so, i'd say yrou BF is fine and you have an issue with the radial. also dude, for reasons unknown, that radial ha a really low impedance of 220k ohm.. that is really wacked.  i would look into a diff DI, if it were me.

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Unfortunately I don't have an XLR mic to test at the moment. But i will try and get ahold of one..

Not sure exactly why the low impedance on the J48. That is interesting though, i've seen these recommended all over forums. Apparently Radial thinks the low impedance colors the tone less? I dunno, i just scrolled through some other posts of people talking about it.

  • Registered: 2019-10-01
  • Posts: 675

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Hello!

Can you check if M/S Processing is activated at the Input? If the "M/S Proc" button at the settings tab is "lit", click on it to de-activate it.

Also, can you check if "Loopback" is enabled for Outputs 1/2 ?

RME Gear: Digiface USB, HDSP 9632
  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Nope, neither MS Proc or Loopback is on the Inputs or Outputs.

Turning MS Proc on doesn't seem to do anything to the DI, during Loopback on the outputs and no guitar comes through at all.

Thanks for the ideas guys... still not sure whats going on.

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

Update: I realized my Kemper has a DI output on the back. Ran that into the RME Babyface the signal looks and sounds good. The problem appears to be my J48 DI. Not sure what happened to it during the reamp process but i managed to break it.

thanks everyone for trying to help.

  • Registered: 2020-06-17
  • Posts: 9

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

DOUBLE update: Allow me to apologize for the wild goose chase. It was the XLR cable between the DI and RME babyface. Why i didnt switch that out before, i have no idea. Its so obvious.

Lord that took too long to figure out. Again thanks everyone.

  • Registered: 2020-03-10
  • Posts: 112

Re: [Solved] Sudden degration of DI signal/quality

HA.  Good sleuthing.  One wonders if you tested a microphone using same cable if that would have also led to the bad cable discovery.  I have been making all of my own cables and buying from https://www.performanceaudio.com/    awesome pricing and cheap or free ship.  i use all MOGAMI and NEUTRIK and make them exactly as long as needed .  and as a cool bonus you can do differetn color wire adn boots!   
glad u got it  sorted.   shred on.

and look into coutnryman type 85 di to replace your radial with!!