Hi Jlespada65, welcome to the RME user forum.

> The RME Interface App also shows the signal in both software playback and in Hardware outputs very low.

The software playback channel represents the signal coming from the DAW.
No wonder that the signal at your HW output is also low, how should it be higher, if the application sends it already that low?!

You need to inspect your DAW settings, why the output signal is low.

If you use the control room, check there the volume settings or whether you activated DIM. Also check all other relevant faders.
Perhaps you have activated the volume automation and mistakenly set a constant lower value on the automation track.

@ramses: yes, your flow diagram reflects exaclty how I have se it up.  I don’t think the pproblem is in teh DAW because the output fader is showing a healthy signal and there is no diming going on anywhere.  When I feed the master track back into another track in the DAW it shows a perfect signal level.

@Waedi: the target is to take advantage of the supposedly superior ADAC conversion of the Hilo, and print a master track that has gone through the Hilo back into the DAW.  The routing of this is being done through AES (as ramses’ diagram shows above).  Yet, somehow, the signal being fed back into the DAW via AES is coming in significantly lower than the one that was sent out from the DAW via the Interface AES.  Not sure how else I can explain this....

In Totalmix it is possible to doubleclick onto a fader.
The fader jumps up to the zero position, this is the full signal.
If the fader got pulled up by hand to level where it looks good, then it's probably below zero, less signal.

Sorry, but I completely don't understand the target here. Do you send the analog signal to some hardware to colour the sound before returning it to the Hilo?

Nope, I was wrong, that didn't work either... I'm thinking I am going to return the Hilo, I don't like the idea of complicating my set up so much, and at this stage I am not getting any sonic benefit, only headaches. thanks you all for the help!

This is the best idea here ! Hopefully you can save the 4000 € !

Holy cow ! Hilo is a Thunderbolt or USB Dante Interface ! I thought it's a standalone DAC.
from it's user manual :
...Levels can be set and adjusted for all input sources and outputs. Sources can be mirrored to multiple outputs. Sources and outputs can be muted. This is why Hilo has an internal 32 x 32 channel mixer. This is where you get to use it.

Sorry, I can'g figure out how to insert images in this platform...

The idea is not faulty if you consider the ultimate goal: to have a mastering chain in the analog loop of the Hilo.  Then the AES signal coming from the DAW would be converted to analog, sent to the outboard processors, returned to Hilo, converted to Digital, and sent back to the DAW.  this is a fairly standard way of working in mastering studios.

@Jlespada65: If you work with img tags in the forum so that the content is directly visible, then you need to substitute "dl=0" with "dl=1". Otherwise, omit the img tags so that the forum software can create at least a clickable URL.
Currently, I can only see the URL, but it is neither click- nor mark-able. Therefore, I quoted your posting and made the necessary changes and replaced "dl=0" with "dl=1". Now we can see your screenshots.

Your screenshot is only of limited use because you do not show the submix of AES OUT, you show the submix of AN1/2 OUT.

But what you can see already is that SW playback channel AES shows a strong signal with peaks at around 0dB!
What I do not understand here, why did you say in your initial posting, that the level of SW playback channel is low?
That's not true at all.

The question is now, whether you possibly reduced the level in the submix of HW Output AES Out.
For this, we need to see the submix of HW Output AES OUT.

So, please select HW Output AES OUT to see the submix for this output (remember in TM FX every HW output has a submix of its own) and then create / post a new screenshot.

This time please
- in a better resolution, check that the JPG quality of your screenshot program is at 100% and
- including the HW input AES as well, where the signal from the Hilo arrives

I can recommend Greenshot as screenshot tool for Windows: https://getgreenshot.org/ . Also in greenshot you need to set the JPG Quality from usually 75% to 100% to get sharp images to be able to see more details.

The USB driver from the Hilo is probably only in use (if at all) to operate the Hilo remotely. His signal flow is clearly described in his 1st posting and see also my ASCII drawing which he confirmed in his Post #5.

The same way, I have connected the UFX+ and ADI-2 Pro FS R BE so that I can update the firmware of the ADI-2 or the ASIO driver for playback on demand.

I see absolutely no correlation to the mentioned level differences of audio and having the Hilo connected through USB for management purposes.

At this time, I see 2 potential failures:
1. submix of the AES output on the 802 is configured incorrectly, fader of sw playback not at 0dB.
2. wrong gain staging in the analog chain at the Hilo

Currently, we wait for a new screenshot of TM FX, regarding point #1...

It's all explained in the thread, you only need to read. Post #1, #4, #21.

He wants to use the hilo for da conversion, then to outboard gear and back, finally ad and back to the 802. Sounds legit as the lynx hilo supposedly has great ad and da conversion.

Update: At the great suggestion of ramses, I ran a tone generator through Cubase.  I set it up so that the out in Cubase was going through the RME Fireface 802 Interface’s AES Output to the Hilo Converter AES Input.  The results were as follows (sorry, I still can’t figure out how to imbed images in this platform!):
1.    The Stereo Out Fader meter in Cubase shows the signal at -12dB.  I ‘ve also included the Test generator track and the “Print Track” with the AES Signal coming back to Cubase.
2.    The Total Mix, Software Playback AES Meter shows the signal at -12dB
3.    The Total Mix, Hardware Outputs AES Meter shows the signal at -12dB
4.    The Hilo Remote app, AES Meter In shows the signal at -14dB
5.    The Hilo Remote app, AED Meter Out shows the signal almost non-existent:
6.    The Total Mix, Hardware Inputs AES Meter shows the signal at -40.4dB
I don’t know what to make of this... any ideas?

How to put the image into the forum post :
I opened your link in a new browser tab to watch the image.
Right-click onto the image and copy image adress.
In the forum post I click the img tag button and paste that adress into.

The link from you is not the image itself, it is a webpage where the image is included.
For the image tag in the forum post you have to insert the direct image adress.

What I see on your image, the AES output channel in Totalmix is splitted into two mono channels. Pic 2
That makes no sense !
Open one of them and hit the stereo button to merge them together into one stereo channel, as it should be.
Not sure if that will solve the problem.
Pic 6 shows the return signal is a stereo signal.
somewhere the two mono signals got combined, may be in a way where the volume got lowered?
The routing inside the Hilo may need further inspection, detailed point to point. As seen on pic 4 and 5 there, inside the Hilo, the signal loses its volume, pic 4 shows the faders are not up you should pull them up fully, let's see...

But this is your posting, not any of the customer, right?
And it is not related to the issue of low signals.

In the TM FX screenshot of the customer its clearly visible that the DAW signal is ok.
But already the signal on the HW output is weaker, perhaps a problem with his submix.
And I assume that the gain staging at Hilo is maybe also not ideal and contributes to the problem.
Unluckily he didn't send a screenshot of the inputs, so see whether the AES input signal is even weaker.

These are the most important points and the issues that the customer may have and need to be checked.

But it is hard to work on this in this thread if two other guys do not understand the issue and are talking about different things.

Good morning everyone
First thing I would do is to immediately close the hardware input fader of AES (stereo) input for the AES output submix in TotalMix.