Hi,

OK, so I am FINALLY getting my home studio set up properly /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt= About time!  I just bought an Echo AudioFire 4 interface, and got everything hooked up.  I have my XS connected to it via SPDIF output. 

So here’s what I’m noticing.  Without playing any notes at all, with all level faders set as low as they’ll go, the meters on the AudioFire’s console mixer utility show a -50db signal coming in via the SPDIF from the Motif XS.  If I enable the L & R +6db gain in the XS’s Utility page, the signal jumps to about -44db.

I’m no expert, but I’m just wondering...isn’t that a bit of a high noise floor to be coming from the XS?  I’m sure it could be normal...I just honestly don’t know, and want to make sure that’s a normal thing.

Re: S/PDIF output: -50db noise floor?

There must be something wrong with your setup. Do you have anything plugged into XS A/D inputs perhaps?

I used to have a similar problem with my recordings having -90dB noise floor, but it was because I used to record in 16bit, while I should have used 24bit instead. Switching my DAW to 24bit sorted the problem out. However, this noise level did not show up while monitoring SPDIF output. It was only present in recorded wave files.

If you’re getting -44dB while monitoring then I submit there’s something wrong with your setup.

Re: S/PDIF output: -50db noise floor?

Sigh.....

That was EXACTLY the problem...thanks so much!!  I had forgotten about a mic cable I’d attached to the A/D input long ago and forgot to remove it (it’d never been an issue until I just got my new interface hooked up the other day). 

Thanks again!

Re: S/PDIF output: -50db noise floor?

how do you measure the noise floor precisely ?
Does Cubase 4 have some level meter with that precision ?

Re: S/PDIF output: -50db noise floor?

Oh...sorry, no, I was using Tracktion as my DAW, not Cubase.  In any case, I detected the noise floor using the software mixer console that came with the AudioFire 4 interface...it has labelled level meters and the signal was pretty much dead centered between -40 and -60 /forums/images/icons/smile.gif alt=

As for Cubase, not sure about any of that, as I’ve barely used it....

Cheers,
Dave