Topic: Rockbox iRiver Question

[carbine000]

I haven't been around here in a long time since getting some great advice on a rig.
In my opinion it has paid for itself 10 fold.

I have an iRiver iHP-120 with Rockbox.
One night at a show I stupidly started messing around with the gain on the settings and now I don't remember what the default settings were.

I've been recording shows great before and I have an important show coming up and I don't think I will get a chance to do a field test on my settings before this show.

So any of you what do you have your settings at or what do  you think I should have my settings at for the gain?

Also, I have Church Audio Cardiods and the ST9000 battery box.

[SmokinJoe]

I'm not sure these are "defaults", but where I would start is:
Source: line in
Automatic Gain Control: Safety (Clip)
AGC Time: 400ms
Set the gain to something like +10.

If the +10 is hot it will ratchet down automatically to avoid prolonged clipping.  This has worked well for me.

[sunjan]

Automatic Gain Control: Safety (Clip)
Set the gain to something like +10.

If the +10 is hot it will ratchet down automatically to avoid prolonged clipping. 

SmokinJoe got everything right. Of course, it also depends which gain setting you're using on the ST9000.

I usually put +20dB on my ST-9100, add +20 rockbox gain, and let the Safety (Clip) work its way down on the Iriver.
Once the volume settles in, I normally end up with +-0dB rockbox gain for arena rock DFC, while quiet/acoustic shows might actually need those extra +20dB rockbox gain. Of course, your remedy in this case would be to go for +30dB on the ST-9000 (because the preamp gain is cleaner).

[fmaderjr]

For the future, once you have your settings the way you like them, be sure to save them in case you accidentally screw them up later. You can do this directly in rockbox, but I never figured this out, so I just save the rockbox folder on the iRiver to my computer. If I screw things up, I just copy the saved rockbox folder back to the iRiver.

[petur]

For the future, once you have your settings the way you like them, be sure to save them in case you accidentally screw them up later. You can do this directly in rockbox, but I never figured this out, so I just save the rockbox folder on the iRiver to my computer. If I screw things up, I just copy the saved rockbox folder back to the iRiver.

Settings -> Manage Settings -> Save .cfg File

To load them again, use Brose .cfg Files from the same menu.

[carbine000]

Fmaderjr & petur:
Perfect! I will do this in the future.

Smokin Joe & Sunjan:
I like what you are saying about the ST-9000 being cleaner. At the show where I started messing with the setting the bass becomes distorted. This is from too much gain on the iRiver, no?

I've typically used only the preamp gain based on the levels shown on the rockbox. If the levels were mid to mid-high on the rockbox I am satisfied and I have had clean recordings. Although I have found that I need to increase the gain in post-production before it is listenable. It is still clean though.

FYI I am going to a DJ/Electronic show so there is going to be lots of prolonged bass. I am thinking of using the DJ Set AGC setting and having the iRiver set to +10 then turn on the preamp gains and see where the levels are at. What do you guys think?

[sunjan]

I like what you are saying about the ST-9000 being cleaner. At the show where I started messing with the setting the bass becomes distorted. This is from too much gain on the iRiver, no?

FYI I am going to a DJ/Electronic show so there is going to be lots of prolonged bass. I am thinking of using the DJ Set AGC setting and having the iRiver set to +10 then turn on the preamp gains and see where the levels are at. What do you guys think?

Distortion is probably from too much Iriver gain in combination with ST-9000 gain, yes. (Or from low voltage in the preamp, but less likely.)
You can easily notice this while taping: if the meters peak, clipping will occur. In Rockbox, set the screen to lighten up while clipping, you will be alerted and might adjust (or let Safety Clip do the adjustment for you).

For your next gig, I suggest setting the ST-9000 gain before you start the recording on the rockbox. For loud gigs, start with +20 Church gain and +20 iriver gain, let Safety Clip adjust it down towards +-0. If you end up below 0dB on the Iriver, this means that +10dB on the ST-9000 would have been sufficient.