Getting instruments through Ableton with good sound

[Giacomo17]

Hi again folks. I'm having a helluva time getting my bass guitar to sound decent thru Ableton. I run it thru just a DI then off to the PA and it sounds great. But from DI to audio interface, Ableton, then out the audio interface, it sounds ridiculously bad.

So two questions:

does Ableton color the sound, even without its effects? (I assume its effects are true bypass)

(And the more likely culprit) I'm just using a presonus firestudio audio interface. Is this thing just too shit for the job?

Any other suggestions I'm open to.

Thanks!

G

[kanuck]

Live by itself does not colour audio coming in. The issue is definitely in the front end or the back end (monitors). What are you monitoring through?

[Giacomo17]

A couple eon 515xt's. they sound pretty bitchin.


by "front end," I assume u mean the audio interface?

[fishmonkey]

which inputs on your audio interface are you plugging your DI into?

and when you DI into your PA, what is the signal chain?

[Giacomo17]

They're going into the interfaces front two preamp inputs.

When I DI straight into the PA, I'm just doing that to get a baseline sound to reference from, so I just go instrument > DI > PA

[fishmonkey]

They're going into the interfaces front two preamp inputs.

When I DI straight into the PA, I'm just doing that to get a baseline sound to reference from, so I just go instrument > DI > PA

what is the PA input?

[yur2die4]

I'm curious about what kind of 'bad' sound specifically it has when going through Live.

How would you best describe the difference between sound outcome of the two setups?

[Giacomo17]

Fishmonkey, sorry, "PA input?" The signal enters the PA thru a 1/4" jack, line level, if that's what you're asking.

Yur, my definition of "bad" here would be a general lacking in acoustically pleasing tones across the high, middle, and low frequencies: muddy, thin, poorly defined, with almost a sense of a convoluting octave effect present, too.

[fishmonkey]

what DI are you using? and does your bass have passive or active pickups?

[Giacomo17]

Radial JDI passive box. My bass has both active and passive, but I've been using active.

[mothergarage]

Have you turned monitoring on in your soundcard?

[fishmonkey]

They're going into the interfaces front two preamp inputs.

When I DI straight into the PA, I'm just doing that to get a baseline sound to reference from, so I just go instrument > DI > PA

they? does your bass have a stereo output?

[Giacomo17]

Oh sorry. I was also talking about another guitar. Just tested other instruments out, too, and they hold up about similarly.

And, by monitoring turned on in my sound card, do you mean headphones enabled in my audio interface? If so, yes it is.