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Post subject: Mustang floor issue
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 2:45 am
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Posts: 6
Hello again,

I got another question about the mustang floor. I've been playing with it - connecting the xlr outputs to my soundcard, and Ive also been playing it directly to a PA system live, by lining the xlr's directly to the PA.

What I've experienced though, both when recording in cubase via the mustangs outputs to my soundcards inputs, and playing live through PA, is that the sound seems kind of "distorted" - its like a crackling noise. Its not very loud though, but its a problem! This happens even though I have the level knob on the mustang set fairly low. I also experince that the sound is kind of "weak" - and not so fat and rich as it is in the demo videos for the mustang floor unit one can find on youtube.

Have I forgot something fundamental, is there some update that can fix that problem?
Or shall it be this way?

Thanks


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Post subject: Re: Mustang floor issue
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:01 am
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Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2014 10:41 am
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I just experienced with the output configuration in utility, I set the output to STEREO instead of MONO, but strange enough I actually think the sound became worse when switching to STEREO. (much more sharp and piercing, kind of annoying to listen to)

This is strange because Im using both the left and right xlr outputs to my soundcard,
so stereo should sound better I suppose? I also had a stereo track in cubase.

Any help with this would be highly appreciated.


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Post subject: Re: Mustang floor issue
Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 9:54 am
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Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:37 am
Posts: 1315
Location: England
Quote:
the sound seems kind of "distorted" - its like a crackling noise

This sounds like a fault somewhere. There should be no crackling noise.

I'll assume you've tried different guitars, cables (both guitar cable and XLR cable), different PCs and PA systems, that you've removed all other components (other stomp boxes, rack effects, etc) from the signal chain, and you always get the same result? (or if you haven't, please do this first to narrow down the culprit).

One specific thought is that if your guitar has active pickups, definitely try a different guitar and/or replace the batteries in the pickups.

If you have narrowed the culprit down to the Mustang Floor, you could try this: connect your guitar to the M-Floor input, and connect the M-Floor fx-send to your PC, PA, another (known good, working) amp, etc. Make sure the fx-loop is turned on on your M-Floor! Do you still get a crackling noise? If so, the fault seems to be at the input end of the M-Floor. If the crackle goes away, then try the next step.

Connect your guitar cable to the M-Floor's fx-return, and then connect the M-Floor's output to your PC, etc. If the crackle went away in the previous test above, but now comes back, the fault seems likely to be at the output of your M-Floor. If so, try different output sockets (left, right jacks; left, right XLR, headphones, etc). Does just one of them (or a subset of them) crackle, or do they all crackle?

Quote:
the sound is kind of "weak" - and not so fat and rich as it is in the demo videos

Interesting; due to compression etc of youtube videos, I usually find their sound weaker than the real thing. But to address your problem - it sounds like an equalisation issue. Try different cab emulations within the presets. Also try changing the output voicing of your M-Floor - this is a global setting, not per-preset, that lets you tweak the M-Floor's sound based on the type of equipment it's plugged into. Also just good-old-fashioned experimentation with the tone controls will make a lot of difference here.

Quote:
the sound became worse when switching to STEREO. (much more sharp and piercing

How are you listening to the sound from your PC? Headphones, desktop speakers, studio-quality monitors, ...? Stereo adds a spatial dimension to the sound, which will cause your ears to interpret the sound in a different way than the same sound, from the same speakers, in mono. Your ears will find greater definition and precision in the sound, if the stereo is done well (which is why I ask what type of speakers you have).

It sounds in this case as though your sound could be EQ'ed with too much top-end that your ears are picking up more in stereo (high frequencies stand out more in stereo because the ear perceives more directionality to them). The speakers you're using could be exacerbating the effect.

Quote:
Im using both the left and right xlr outputs to my soundcard

One thing to check: is your soundcard input correctly setup to take a balanced audio signal? And does the cable/plug wiring have the right connections to match the connectors on your soundcard? There are multiple different types of XLR cable, if you don't have the right connections for the exact equipment you're using, it will sound bad (or not sound at all).

One specific thought is that you could have out-of-phase stereo connections, if one of your cables has its connections reversed compared to the other. That would give a stereo signal that sounds wrong.

It may be simpler to troubleshoot this with conventional jack-plug connections. Once you've eliminated everything else, and adjusted all the controls to get the sound you want, then go back to the XLR setup. Unless you're in a very electrically noisy environment, using very long cables, there will be no or marginal audible difference between the two cable types (XLR vs jack), so using jack connections won't cause any other problems.


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