Checking And Setting Levels - Fractal Audio AX8 Owner's Manual

CHECKING AND SETTING LEVELS

Setting proper levels is critical. Two meters (one mono and one stereo) plus two
front panel LEDs inform you about levels on the AX8. Setting levels is easy.
INPUT 1 [ INSTRUMENT ] LEVELS
The AX8 comes ready-to-use for the typical passive pickups guitar. Connect your guitar to INPUT 1.
Choose your loudest pickup and set all the guitar controls to wide open. Play loud open chords
to push the levels as you watch the IN 1 [INSTRUMENT] meter LEDs. It's OK to "tickle" the red LED
once in awhile—it actually has five levels of brightness with only the brightest indicating actual
clipping—but pushed too hard, the input will clip and you'll need to pad the input as follows:
 Press SETUP; Press footswitch 2 for the I/O menu; Turn to the LEVELS page.
 Turn E/NAV to select
based on the output level of your guitar. Be aware that as you increase this PAD setting you also
increase the noise floor, so set it as low as possible.
OUT 1 LEVELS
OUT 1 [MAIN] XLR and 1/4" Humbuster™ jacks are ready to be connected to professional line-level
+4dBu inputs.
If and ONLY if you are connecting to consumer-grade equipment operating at -10 dbV, please set the
nominal output level as follows:
 Press SETUP; Press footswitch 2 for the I/O menu; Turn to the LEVELS page.
 Turn E/NAV to select
Learn more about these controls in
FRONT PANEL "CLIP" LEDS
If the MAIN OUT CLIP LED lights, the problem is almost certainly that your preset itself is too loud.
The easy way to correct this is to turn down the Amp block using the dedicated Level knob on the top
panel of the AX8. If you're not using an amp block, the level of any other block in your chain can be
lowered instead. (Note that blocks in front of a compressor or drive have an indirect effect on levels.)
The Output Mixer (p. 61) on the grid is another option. Its four LEVEL controls correspond to the four
ROWS of the grid and can be used to lower preset levels. Its MAIN fader also works to adjust levels, but
needs to be set for every Scene.
The Global EQ (p. 77) can also be a "quick fix" until you can adjust blocks or scenes as described
above. Adjust the main GAIN fader downward to reduce levels to OUT 1.
If the FX SEND CLIP LED lights, the problem is the levels going in to the FX Loop block
settings of the FX Loop block itself. Its four LEVEL controls correspond to the four rows of the grid and
can be used to adjust preset levels. Its
Output Mixer it needs to be set for every Scene. Learn more about
INSTRUMENT INPUT PAD
MAIN OUT NOMINAL LEVEL
"I/O: Levels Page" on p.
fader controls the overall send level, and like that of the
MAIN
. Change this setting to 0dB, 6dB, 12dB or 18dB
and change this setting to "-10 dBV".
78.
"Scenes" on p.
17
3 SetuP GuIde
(p. 57) or the
37.