MPC Live instrument volume too low

Whenever I add instruments to a track the volume of the sound is much too low. Compared to the drums I have to turn up the volume of the instrument to +6db just to hear it at about 1/3 volume. Is this a bug or are there other settings to turning up the volume of instruments compared to drums and samples?

MilesAB wrote:Whenever I add instruments to a track the volume of the sound is much too low. Compared to the drums I have to turn up the volume of the instrument to +6db just to hear it at about 1/3 volume. Is this a bug or are there other settings to turning up the volume of instruments compared to drums and samples?

I think this might be related to gain-staging issues in general. If you look at some of the samples provided as standard content, they seem to be somewhere around -20dB in level. Doing some of my own keygroup programming, it seems like this is required in order to keep polyphonic playback from distorting. I'm not sure that this is the best way to approach fixing the problem, but it does mean that the core sample levels of the MPC instruments are very low.

[ddg]

Thank you. That could explain it. I'm also listening to the output via the headphone socket but I don't think that would be the issue.

So the only way round this is to pull all tracks down to -20db to equalise the levels.

I guess - you can only boost a channel by 6dB, so you will have to make other adjustments. Don't take my -20dB as gospel, though - there aren't any level indicators on the sample editor, so I'm only guessing based on visuals (and my own experiments with gain reduction on full-level waveforms).

[ddg]

Just normalize the samples and try not going over 0db...It introduces distortion..

Has anyone else experienced this? I presume it is the same for everyone as everyone is using the same hardware firmware in standalone mode.

Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:Just normalize the samples and try not going over 0db...It introduces distortion..

If you do that, you are going to get in trouble with anything that you expect to use polyphonically - there is some kind of issue with internal gain stages that will distort the heck out of keygroup instruments that are working off a full-code sample. Something is clipping long before you can slap a compressor in the effects chain, and it seems like the only way to avoid it (for polyphonic devices) is to reduce the gain of the sample itself.

So a normalized sample is going to not be your friend the first time you hit a four-note chord.

[ddg]

I checked to see if the demos had the same issue but they didn't. So I started a new a new projects and added a few instruments. The volume level of the instruments was much better. Not amazing but definitely much better than before. It could have been a one off issue with my project. So problem has been solved for now.

Check your main outs in the mixer..If you exceed 0db it clips

darwingrosse wrote:

Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:Just normalize the samples and try not going over 0db...It introduces distortion..

If you do that, you are going to get in trouble with anything that you expect to use polyphonically - there is some kind of issue with internal gain stages that will distort the heck out of keygroup instruments that are working off a full-code sample. Something is clipping long before you can slap a compressor in the effects chain, and it seems like the only way to avoid it (for polyphonic devices) is to reduce the gain of the sample itself.

So a normalized sample is going to not be your friend the first time you hit a four-note chord.

[ddg]