Routing problem

[Kirinyaga]

Hello everyone,

I use an Ableton session (session view) for my gigs and I have a simple soundcard (2 jack/XLR in, 4 jack out).

I'm routing my backing tracks to front of house in stereo via MAIN OUT 1 and 2 on my soundcard. I use LINE OUT 3 for an in-ear click.

Here is my question: I would like to use LINE OUT 4 to send my electric guitar or my bass (depending on the song) independently from out 1/2 to front of house. Obviously, I don't want the signal to reach out 1/2, or else the sound engineer would get twice the same signal, but for some reason Ableton (or maybe my soundcard?) brings the signal to MAIN OUT 1 and 2 (aka my home studio speakers) by default.

Can anyone help?

(I can't attach screenshots to this message, unfortunately.)

Thank you,

Kiri

[fishmonkey]

hi,

firstly, in the Live audio preferences, make sure you have outputs 3 & 4 enabled as mono outputs (you can also have them enabled as a stereo output if you need that in other situations as well). they definitely need to have the mono option enabled though so that you can send audio to them independently using Live's routing choosers.

your Cue Out (for the click) needs to be going only to output channel 3.

to send a single track (say your guitar or bass) to channel 4, select audio out to "Ext. Out" and then select channel 4.

depending on how complex your Live set is, it might be neater to create a new audio track which is set to output to channel 4, and to use that as a bus/aux track to direct or send to whenever you need something to go to that fourth output.

if you are still hearing the guitar/bass in channels 1 & 2 from your audio interface, then maybe you have some extra routing going on the software mixer for your interface.

BTW, you can post an image by uploading it to one of the free image hosting websites, and then putting the link in your post here...

[Kirinyaga]

Hi Fishmonkey,

Thank you SO much for taking the time to answer me!

I had already done exactly what you suggest in your message. Here are a few screenshots to clarify things:

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot1_1.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot2_2.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot3.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot4.jpg

Any other idea?

Thanks,

Kiri

[yur2die4]

Where do all those Sends go to?? Are they also going out to FOH??

[Kirinyaga]

Wow, yur2die4, I think you solved my problem!!

Those two sends are the automatic reverb and delay effects Ableton offers whenever you open a session, AND those two tracks are automatically routed to Master Out, so no wonder I was hearing my guitar playing.

Thank you!!

[Kirinyaga]

But now I have a new problem: my guitar is routed to out 4 without being routed to 1 and 2, which is good, but the sound isn't the same as when I routed it to 1 and 2.

The distorsion guitar doesn't sound the same at all, and I think it's simply a volume issue, because when routed to out 4 the volume is so huge I can't play the strings strong enough to get the distorsion sound I had before (or else all my house's windows would shatter).

The settings are obviously the same everywhere: soundcard, guitar track on Ableton, master volume, etc. I just don't see where I could get a different sound for line out 4.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Kiri

[fishmonkey]

Hi Fishmonkey,

Thank you SO much for taking the time to answer me!

I had already done exactly what you suggest in your message. Here are a few screenshots to clarify things:

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot1_1.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot2_2.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot3.jpg

https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Screenshot4.jpg

Any other idea?

Thanks,

Kiri

a couple of things i noticed in your screenshots:

- your Cue Out should only be going to channel 3 (in the picture it's going to both 3 & 4)
- if you are using sends for effects usually you want them to be post-fader, not pre-fader
- you are are using sends/returns i would suggest setting up separate ones that you use for different hardware outputs so that the structure of your Live set is clear and makes sense

as for the volume difference, maybe you have a different gain setting on the 1/2 main outs and the 3/4 line outs — i guess you can change this with the Presonus Universal Control software? what i mean is maybe the imbalance is because your main out (1/2) volume knob is set quite low and the 3/4 outs are set at a default unity gain. as an aside, if the main out volume knob needs to be so low then the gain staging in your setup is a bit wonky.

however, it's a bit hard to know without knowing how you are listening to everything at home. where do you have all the hardware outputs going to so that you can hear everything?