Soundwaves not getting bigger when I'm "playing harder"

Nahjus · November 22, 2017 at 3:09 PM

Heyo!

I was doing a chill one string palm muted riff and recording it. After a while its supposed to have a climax where the whole chord is played repeatedly (and louder). So I Tried to play the muting as softly as possible but when I tried playing "louder" eg picking harder for the climax the waveform instead became smaller and quieter.

What seems to be the problem? (I use reaper)

Kempermaniac · November 22, 2017 at 3:16 PM

Check if there's a compressor enabeld.

Nahjus · November 22, 2017 at 3:19 PM

In the kemper amplifier settings the compressor is at 0.0

In reaper its just on a raw track on a new project so there shouldn't be anything on there!

Kempermaniac · November 22, 2017 at 3:20 PM

Checked slot A-D on the Kemper as well?

Nahjus · November 22, 2017 at 3:23 PM

A-D slots are empty!

Here is a JPG of what the soundwave is like. At first Im just almost stroking the strings with artist like gentleness and in the end I'm smashing A minor with all my might.

Kempermaniac · November 22, 2017 at 3:26 PM

How does it sound like? I mean...is it only the waveform that gives you the impression that it's getting quieter or is it really getting quieter when played back?

Nahjus · November 22, 2017 at 3:51 PM

It is actually quieter

lightbox · November 22, 2017 at 4:32 PM

Could it be some Ducking in one of the effects (could even be in the X, Mod, Delay, Reverb slots)?
And also check the Power Sagging in the Amp block.

Michael_dk · November 22, 2017 at 4:35 PM

I wonder if the clean sens and/or dist sens is affected by the strength of the input signal, does anybody know?

Nahjus · November 22, 2017 at 4:45 PM

Quote from lightbox

Could it be some Ducking in one of the effects (could even be in the X, Mod, Delay, Reverb slots)?
And also check the Power Sagging in the Amp block.

It was a clean patch with no X mod or Delay. I also tried other profiles and it had the same problem. Power Sagging I always keep at 0.

Quote from Michael_dk

I wonder if the clean sens and/or dist sens is affected by the strength of the input signal, does anybody know?

I will try out the clean sense thing tomorrow.

Michael_dk · November 22, 2017 at 4:51 PM

Quote from Nahjus

I will try out the clean sense thing tomorrow.

Not sure if it's the problem, but worth a try. Look in the manual for an explanation of how to dial it in, if you're unsure

waraba · November 22, 2017 at 4:57 PM

Hey , remember that a very high gain tone is already mega compressed by definition

try using a clean tone and compare ?

Kempermaniac · November 22, 2017 at 5:04 PM

And what about your interface? How is the Kemper connectec to it? Maybe there‘s some internal compression or limiting going on because the level get‘s messed up.

Michael_dk · November 22, 2017 at 5:09 PM

Quote from waraba

Hey , remember that a very high gain tone is already mega compressed by definition

try using a clean tone and compare ?

It shouldn't get LOWER than the less clipped signal, though.

Nahjus · November 23, 2017 at 5:19 PM

I ran some tests. Initially I played quietly and then loud chords to the point that the kempers input light turned reddish. The problem persists with high gain sound! The strumming would actually sound a little quieter than the the quiet playing. HOWEVER after turning the gain to 0 on the same profile it worked as intended -> When playing quietly the waveform was low and the sound was quiet and vice versa with loud playing. What the heck bros.

ALSO the problem persists if I use only moderate gain. On the moderate gain the sound wave is basically even whether I quietly palm mute or play hard chords.

Quote from Kempermaniac

And what about your interface? How is the Kemper connectec to it? Maybe there‘s some internal compression or limiting going on because the level get‘s messed up.

Kemper is connected to a focusrite 6i6 through SPDIF and then to my speakers through the headphone jack on the focusrite and to the computer through the USB.

sambrox · November 23, 2017 at 5:29 PM

Sounds like you need to set your clean sense :

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Nahjus · November 23, 2017 at 5:47 PM

Quote from sambrox

Sounds like you need to set your clean sense

But clean sense doesn't affect distorted sound right?

Michael_dk · November 23, 2017 at 5:50 PM

Quote from Nahjus

But clean sense doesn't affect distorted sound right?

It affects the volume of the clean sounds in relation to the distorted sounds - so indirectly, yes it does. It's something to try.

Kempermaniac · November 24, 2017 at 2:06 PM

Reddish input light is something to think about cause it indicates that the level is too high. Maybe it's so high that some protection (like limiting) starts to work inside the Kemper.

Nahjus · November 24, 2017 at 5:51 PM

Quote from Kempermaniac

Reddish input light is something to think about cause it indicates that the level is too high. Maybe it's so high that some protection (like limiting) starts to work inside the Kemper.

It is a non issue. It doesn't actually almost ever go red no matter how hard I play. The volume is going down for another reason... I don't have the time to test the clean sense today so I got to check on that tomorrow!