DI Drama, Please Help

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DI Drama, Please Help

Postby Androidred0100 » 01 Nov 2013 20:44

So I'm trying to use Logic Express 8 with an Apogee Duet to DI record a Guitar to start my project, but even though (I believe) that I have the settings right, I'm not hearing my guitar through my monitor (headphones). All my cables work and are connected in what should be the right places, the volumes and gains should be at adequate levels, and what stumps me the most is that the Duet still functions as a microphone interface and is even still picking up sounds through the microphone despite the control panel saying the input is set as the Instrument. I've muddled with it before way in the past and gotten the DI to work but I don't remember how I did it or if there were other steps than just going to the control panel and switching it from mic to instrument. I understand Logic is better suited for MIDI, but this should still be doable and I'm upset tat its fighting me.

I'm really set on going DI for two main reasons. 1) I've never been happy with the tone I get from mixing my amp in my not sound treated atmosphere and want to see if I'll get better results this way, and 2) I'm usually only free to record in the wee hours of the night and I don't want to wake my roommates up with live playing. For my roomies's sake, can ya help a guy out?

Screenshot depicting current windows and settings:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg24 ... 1827PM.png

Gear used:

Epiphone SG
Monster Cables Rock Guitar Cable
Apogee Duet
Logic 8 Express
2007 Macbook Pro
Hosa Headphones (monitor)
Styles: Blues/Jazz/Funk/Rock/Psychedelia/Punk/Metal/Alternative
Recording: Logic Express 8, Apogee Duet
Gear: Epiphone SG, Taylor Dreadnaught 210CE, Marshall Class 5, EHX Big Muf Pi w/ Tone Wicker, DT Expression Factory 7, EHX Q-Tron +, Line 6 Echo Park
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Androidred0100
 
Posts: 9
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Location: New Paltz, New York

Re: DI Drama, Please Help

Postby the4thImpulse » 02 Nov 2013 23:27

Androidred0100 wrote:All my cables work and are connected in what should be the right places, the volumes and gains should be at adequate levels, and what stumps me the most is that the Duet still functions as a microphone interface and is even still picking up sounds through the microphone despite the control panel saying the input is set as the Instrument.

I'm a little confused with some of the wording.

It sounds like you have a visual that there is a signal coming in on the guitar, like the VU meter lighting up. Is this true?

Due you perhaps mean that a microphone creates a signal you can hear and monitor but the guitar you can not?

Can you get any signal, of any sort to work through the apogee, to the software and back through the headphones monitor outputs?


Maybe get an iPod hooked into an input, something you now will work every time and then go about configuring it so it can be monitored. Once you have done that then mov on to the guitar, if it does not work then there is a problem with the signal path between the guitar and the apogee.

If you can not get any input from any device then you should be focusing on the software and the apogee configurations.


I can help, but i need you to be as specific as possible. It's why I always prefer helping people and their studios in person.
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Re: DI Drama, Please Help

Postby Androidred0100 » 20 Nov 2013 21:20

Hey, sorry for the super late response. My roommates and I couldn't afford our internet bill for a bit and they cut our service for a few weeks until we could pay it off.

It sounds like you have a visual that there is a signal coming in on the guitar, like the VU meter lighting up. Is this true?


I don't have a visual on both the Duet and Logic that there's signal coming from the guitar, but I know that the guitar AND the cable work fine since sound comes out of my amp when I plug the guitar in there.

Due you perhaps mean that a microphone creates a signal you can hear and monitor but the guitar you can not?


Yes. When I have my guitar plugged into the Instrument Input I get nothing, regardless of how the software is set, and when I plug a Mic into the XLR Input, I get a visual signal and can hear everything it pics up regardless of how the software is set up.

I tried the iPod thing and same deal; no visual, no sound.
Styles: Blues/Jazz/Funk/Rock/Psychedelia/Punk/Metal/Alternative
Recording: Logic Express 8, Apogee Duet
Gear: Epiphone SG, Taylor Dreadnaught 210CE, Marshall Class 5, EHX Big Muf Pi w/ Tone Wicker, DT Expression Factory 7, EHX Q-Tron +, Line 6 Echo Park
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Androidred0100
 
Posts: 9
Joined: 26 Feb 2013 10:45
Location: New Paltz, New York


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