Ableton Forum

can someone give me some practical examples of the use of the dc button on the utility plug?
I've read the wiki about dc offset and some short other stuff and now i'm worried, haha

What can i use it for? what are the most common uses?

And should i just put in on my master channel or each seperate channel by default?

Can software synth create DC offsets ?

If they do, would I need to have a utility with DC offset turned on ?

I usually do that just in case, and think I am so on a save side.
But if you tell me that this is not necessary and I can go without,
I would reconsider this...!

Thank You

Software can, though it's rare and usually only a tiny amount. Personally I wouldn't worry about it too much.

i've read what it is but wouldnt know how to detect it etc
or when it would become a problem, so looking for some basic examples of when most people would use it really

ShelLuser wrote:

Thomas wrote:i've read what it is but wouldnt know how to detect it etc

So why not read the threads I mentioned in my previous posts?

aaaaaaaahhhh those were links, haha
your posting methods are way to advanced for me, thanks

Thomas wrote:i've read what it is but wouldnt know how to detect it

you can see it on a waveform display because the positive & negative peaks are not centered around "0"

i just spotted some dc offset!
didnt have to get rid of it though, was in a crappy final cut render
still awesome though as the artist who made the tune was called onlydc

DC offsets usually come from analog gear. You might have a microphone for example that outputs a signal that isn't centered around zero volts. You could certainly write software that would introduce a DC offset into a signal (by adding the offset to every sample) but that's a little strange and probably indicates that something is wrong.

If you play audio that has a DC offset into speakers, then the speaker cone will not come to a "rest" in the middle position as it pumps out the waveform. That's no necessarily a big problem but it's not ideal either.

You can think of DC as a 0Hz sine wave, with some phase that isn't zero, if that makes sense. It's frozen in place at some position along the sine wave and just stays there. So, to get rid of it you filter out everything below some ridiculously low frequency, like say 10Hz.

It's not something you "use", it's something you either get rid of or ignore.

hth,

-Luddy

luddy wrote:You can think of DC as a 0Hz sine wave, with some phase that isn't zero, if that makes sense.

that's exactly what it is except a DC signal cannot have phase since it has no beginning or end, it's a static level that doesn't change, 0Hz.

any type of recording can have a DC offset. take a looooong low loud sub bass sound, it would modulate anything recorded over it, take a slice from that recording, it's likely to have a DC offset.