newbie here on the scene and i cant figure this one out…when i listen to the Rytm directly with good headphones from the headphone output on the back of the Rytm the sound is great, but when i direct the sound through a single TRS from the main output into my interface (motu m4) and through ableton the sound quality diminishes quite a bit and i lose all stereo panning and delciousness. what am i missing?
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You have several possibilities.
If you want to capture the main audio out with your Motu, you should use two cables to get both Left and Right output (TRS or not).
With a single TRS, you get only one (balanced) output, not a stereo.
Unless you use the headphones out, which isn’t the best move I believe.
Note that with Overbridge the Rytm is a sound card that can offer to capture the main audio from USB directly, without the use of another soundcard.
Maybe take a picture of what you’re doing. It seems unusual.
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hake you thought about its just an AR2 issue?
The fact that only a TRS cable was used let me think something is fishy with the setup.
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Exactly. I think that USB would be the better choice in this scenario unless there is some specific outboard processing that the machine is being treated to, which from the description, it’s not.
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Also, at least in logic, if you have them come into computer as individual mono tracks you gotta pan em left-right.
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As already mentioned.
You need two cables, left and right to get stereo signal from the machine into your interface.
Headphones have left and right on one cable.
Audio over USB is stereo.
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too much faith
It’s only my own experience speaking.
I’d say the ratio of errors originating from the space above the chair is around 80% here.
Not including beta testing, but I am a heavy OT user ^^
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- yes, as already mentioned, you need two cables, preferably balanced (trs)
- overbridge audio over usb will sound differently, as in that case AR converters will be used (I don’t know if those are better or worse than your Motu and you’ll be limited to 48khz sampling rate, but there’s convenience of having all tracks separately)
- AR headphones out will always sound better - fully analog signal path, no conversion anywhere inbetween…
Wait.
Not sure the converters are the same as the stereo outs, but if they differ I am not sure they would put the best ones on the headphones out.
And of course, the headphones are far from neutral in this…
I would definitely try to use Overbridge and see if the sound is better, though.
Even just for the main out with FX (but possibly for the separate outs too, indeed).
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Quite a lot to unpack here…
I’d first use OB and establish unity gain structure across both internal and external signals. Then, I’d record the master out of the Rytm via OB, and listen back to it through the Rytm (again via OB) using the same headphone out and same headphones. (Perhaps leave master processing / comp off for these tests) If you can hear a significant difference between the two sources (internal vs recorded master via OB2), I’d be pretty surprised tbh…
Like already said, the physical Rytm outputs are monoaural, so you need two cables in order to record in stereo, unless you use a Y-cable from the headphone output into your audio interface (I dont know why you’d do it, but its still possible)
Just because you say you’re new, I’d remind you that make sure you are comparing the two signals in a level matched fashion. Our primitive minds always prefer a louder signal, even when the two sound identical when level matched… could just be that your direct sound was louder, you’d subconsciously attribute such loudness as better sound… even as little as half a dB of difference can skew comparisons
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As mentioned earlier, two ts cables from the main outs to two ports on your interface will solve the majority of the problem you’re experiencing.