If you have to switch DAW's depending on your budget.... Cakewalk Music Creator 6 is around $50 and highly useable..... if budget is larger....any of the Sonar versions works well....I'm using Sonar and a big fan of it.

Level of the signal source coming into the interface will determine how far up you need to turn the level control. On my Saffire (by Focusrite) I generally have them about 50% of the way up. If your signals are really low, forcing you to crank the inputs to max, it might be worthwhile to investigate as to why the levels are low and perhaps look into a clean preamp. Before you do, check to see that you have the correct input settings and that on your mic you are not using the -10db switch setting. My Rode NT-2A has 3 attenuation settings for loud sources. Check things like that.

ALSO..... be absolutely sure that the settings in your FOCUSRITE SOFTWARE CONTROL PANEL are set right. There are software setting that DO control the input levels BEFORE they get to the volume knob on the front panel..... if those are set low, you can crank the knobs and add preamps and still not get suitable levels..... FIND the control panel.... if not already, make it a desktop icon next to the music software you use. Once set, you shouldn't need to touch them but in case you do, it's right there.

I can not emphasize enough that this control panel is likely the reason you have low levels. It was for me, when I first was getting started. I had weak, anemic wave forms in my DAW..... I was redlining the levels going in but the volume wasn't there in the speakers or the playback and the waveform in the tracks literally looked like a single straight line..... It was only after I realized...someone clued me in on another forum site....( I was such a noob).... Then I found that control panel, and turned the inputs up....they were on 2 or 3.....and I turned them up to 5 or 6... tested it again and this time had pretty, nice looking, and normal sounding levels....with wave forms that filled 60% to 90% of the track amplitude area. Also... the software control panel (for me) was and still is a bit confusing.... it's not as intuitive as it should be.... so be patient and figure it out... hopefully, they have made it easier to use.... but that's where you control BOTH the input levels and the output levels..... you can go from total silence up to cone destroying levels.... so be careful when you hit the play button.... turn the speakers down for safety reasons when you are adjusting the control panel. Seriously!!



On the BSOD.... I have heard that those things are usually the result of driver issues. Conflicts of some sort that the computer can not rectify... and it's only choice is a crash to restart. Wish I could tell you more but I'm no expert on this topic. I get them from time to time on my old Dell lappy. I simply take them in stride and let the computer reboot, but it's not my DAW machine anymore.

Glad to see it wasn't a mic/power issue causing the noise.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 12/22/14 03:06 AM.
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