Diagnose my volume/gain/effects level problems, please! [Screenshot included]

  • When I’m auditioning profiles, in 90%+ of situations, I have to turn up the Amplifier Volume and the Rig Volumes to close to 3:00 (all editing done in the software) just to get a volume where I can hear what the thing is supposed to sound like. With clean and light or medium gain profiles, it’s especially bad. With gainy tones, i usually even have to turn up the amplifier GAIN to match the demos. And sometimes, even the effects levels (reverb) aren't as they sound in the demos.


    In the demos, players are just going from one profile to the next, and they all sound great, and at appropriate volume. Are they doing 'leveling' work on every single profile in advance of recording the videos, or is their Kemper just set up appropriately, so that profiles work as intended? There has to be something wrong with mine—it cannot be the case that 95% of profiles sound "wrong" and have to have so much additional volume added.


    This can’t be normal/expected. But I also don’t know how much of this is related to my interface. I’m using SPDIF, but had the same issue with the analog outs.


    Here's a screenshot of my OUTPUT section settings. But, let me first ask one simple question: My focusrite interface is what controls the volumes i hear through my monitors. It also controls the volumes of the demos and music i play through my computer. So, if i'm learning a song or trying to find profiles via Youtube, i set the focusrite at a volume that is about 9:00 on the focusrite dial. My monitors themselves are already pretty much cranked. So, so shouldn't i expect the Kemper to be working at/near that same level? I hope the problem is that i need to turn the Focusrite to 3:00 to get the volume i expect, which would kill me with the computer audio....


    If i turn up the SPDIF further than this, i go too far into the clipping/red on the Focusrite output monitoring.


    [Blocked Image: https://i.imgur.com/fr8wdaP.jpg]

  • Look at the inputs of Focusrite channels that are connected to your Kemper Outputs. They are likely set too low of an input level. Or, the channels for your Computer Audio are set too high.

    Thanks. Yeah, this Focusrite thing is not a happymaking device for me. In a hundred years of Mac ownership, i've always run internal audio the same way. It even worked this way with my previous generation Focusrite interface, which did not use software. Now, with Gen 3, though, so many issues.


    I guess i've effectively turned down my internal audio sources, so that i can go harder on the interface hardware volume to reach the usual levels, which now means the Kemper is louder without having to boost the Amp or Rig Volume knobs. Seems to be closer to what i'd expect from auditioning random, unedited profiles.... I just adjusted a set of my edited profiles for this way of working — seems to be good. I'll try this for a while.


    Thanks again.