TxManx

Mike, Matt..... thank you for responding 3 months ago. Apologies for the delayed follow up.... (new role at work, more travel, yada yada yada). Anyway, after more testing, I returned the Clarett because I could *not* tell the difference between that and the Scarlet. Root cause is either (1) my lack of experience in recording and/or (2) my many summers decades ago of working in a quarry crushing rock, mixing blacktop, and running heavy machinery all without hearing protection : / Now I am burdened with tinnitus in my left ear, etc. .: eric

Hi, This seems to be the bast forum for this question. IF it should go elsewhere, lemme know. Any insight into what a reasonable gain curve would be for a preamp in a digital interface? I am asking because I recently bought a Clarett 4Pre USB interface and the gain does basically nothing until you turn the knob well above 85%. I am guessing that all gain curves are asymptotic in nature - not linear. They start flat from 0% and then beyond 50% they start climbing steeply to 100%. But, come on, starting to climb after 85% is tedious and annoying.... you basically have to only 80-95% to play with... So, I conducted a couple of experiments with three mics (Rode M5, Aston Origin, and a DIY MicParts S47) and three preamps (Clarett 4Pre USB, Scarlett 18i8, and a FMR Audio RNP Preamp into the Clarett #5 line in). I basically sang a flat tone, turned the gain up, tapped the mics at 20%, 50%, 80%, and 100%, and then back down. Then I captured the wave forms and labeled the taps. While my testing technique could be improved, I doubt that more precision or accuracy will change my conclusions.... See the attached graphs. I am not an recording engineer and my practical experience in this area is next to nil. That said, the FMR and Scarlett strike me as having reasonable gain curves. The Clarett does nothing until you hit 80%+. Literally, I am thinking, "The Clarett is broken". Why would any design engineer build a device where the useful gain is always >80%?!? I mean, the return rate must be extraordinarily high on this device. So.... my question... Does my concern about the Clarett gain curve have any basis in reality? Or, if I tested 50 digital interfaces would I find that 50% of them would operate similar to the Clarett? Should I get a different interface? Your insight appreciated. TIA... P.S. My only desire is to record my piano and voice, but have found microphony to be an interesting topic resulting in me building a MicParts DIY kit, swapping out the capsules on my Rode NT1-A's, etc. I just want to get to a straight forward game plan... Thx .: eric