can you damage inputs?

burnt toast · Post by **burnt toast** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 10:15 pm

lately all my recordings have been really quiet and sounding a bit c**p. i have been fairly abusive to the inputs on my desk over the years, so im just wondering if you can destroy/damage the inputs or wether its something else making everything lame. quite possibly me.

MissionBrown · Post by **MissionBrown** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 11:13 pm

in what way abusive?
hot signals or violence?

Its pretty hard to make a high signal cook 'em but things do die eventually.
You haven't just forgotten a switch have you?

Post by **Stab Frenzy** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:01 am

Yeah you can kill stuff by sending it a signal that's too hot. What kind of desk is it?

Analog Freak · Post by **Analog Freak** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 3:19 am

Sorry to be so off topic but I can't help but remember hearing the story of a technician at Roland who got a call about a non-functional S-760 sampler. Appearently the guy had a gig at a park, but there wasn't any means of powering his equipment. So he tried to sample wall voltage electricity to a floppy disk, and then play it back like a battery. Needless to say it didn't work too well.

burnt toast · Post by **burnt toast** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:53 am

its a tascam us-428, i do try to be careful with it and not overload it but things spike when you first start em up etc.. . there isnt really any setting to go wrong on it, its just a simple gain knob. i do put a lot of distorted and big signals into it tho, lots of nasty square waves and etc. or is just serious volume that can destroy them?

that has to be an urban myth doesnt it analog freak? if you can work a akai rack sampler surely you know the difference between audio and electrical signals. usage of a sampler indicates some kind of intelligence just to use it...

VCO · Post by **VCO** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:37 am

Analog Freak wrote:Sorry to be so off topic but I can't help but remember hearing the story of a technician at Roland who got a call about a non-functional S-760 sampler. Appearently the guy had a gig at a park, but there wasn't any means of powering his equipment. So he tried to sample wall voltage electricity to a floppy disk, and then play it back like a battery. Needless to say it didn't work too well.

haha! that's hilarious!

Post by **Maschinengeist** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:28 am

Could be a software problem too: I heard of some glitches with the drivers. Maybe it's a parameters problem, which is also possible.

burnt toast · Post by **burnt toast** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:12 pm

yeah it could be some set up thing, although ive got the latest and last set of drivers on it.

Analog Freak · Post by **Analog Freak** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:47 am

burnt toast wrote:its a tascam us-428, i do try to be careful with it and not overload it but things spike when you first start em up etc.. . there isnt really any setting to go wrong on it, its just a simple gain knob. i do put a lot of distorted and big signals into it tho, lots of nasty square waves and etc. or is just serious volume that can destroy them?

that has to be an urban myth doesnt it analog freak? if you can work a akai rack sampler surely you know the difference between audio and electrical signals. usage of a sampler indicates some kind of intelligence just to use it...

You would think so, but some musicians just have no idea what electricity is or how it works at all. I have no clue whether it is true or not, I just heard it from a friend.