Sampling is Distorted and Bleeds to all Inputs

[blackrenaissanz]

So, I’m a brand new and excited S2400 owner and I am just starting to learn it.

When I first hooked up a turntable and attempted to sample, I had crazy distortion on the channels (1/2 line) I had the turntable hooked up to.

The even stranger thing, though, was that when I turned the dial to other channels (3/4 line, 1/2 phono, 3/4 phono), I could still hear the sample signal (bleeding from 1/2 line), though much quieter and muffled, and still extremely distorted.

Also, when I turn the machine off, I can still hear (through L/R Mix Out) the turntable from the input source (1/2 line), though extremely muffled and highly distorted.

So my question is: Is this normal?

I’m coming from the MPC X, so this type of issue is very foreign to me.

What I have discovered, through some trial and error, is that if I bring the level of the input signal down enough, all of these issues mostly disappear, to the point of being usable, likely.

But still, I want get some thoughts from others on whether this is normal behavior? Is there a setting I need to fix? Or is my machine defective?

Thank you in advance to anyone that has a perspective on this. I really appreciate any help!

• Black Renaissanz

[samborambo]

Whats your gain setting? Is the signal hot?

[eazyian]

Most likely there is nothing wrong with your machine. It just sounds like maybe your signal is just already pretty hot coming in. You might need to describe your setup a little more to get some input on what might be going on. I assume you are plugged directly into the phono inputs? Or are you going from a mixer output into the s2400? Does your turntable already have a phono preamp built in? What gain multiplier are you using?

Also, the reason for being able to hear 1/2 on 3/4 is given in the post below.

Help understanding the Inputs

Inputs 3&4 are normalized to phono1. That is so that you can plug a common 3.5mm to RCA cable into phono1, and sample from inputs 3&4, bypassing phono1’s RIAA filter.

[Droe33]

When my unit is off, I can also get some sound coming from it with audio going in the inputs 1&2. It’s not loud, I haven’t focused on it. I just mute the inputs on my audio interface.

Not sure it’s normal, been to busy making/finishing music.

[blackrenaissanz]

Thank you everyone for your perspective! I love that we have this community where we can help each other.

So let me first share a little more about my setup/issues, as requested by others.

I have a turntable that I run through an external tube preamp (Pro-ject Tube Box S2). I then run the preamp into the Line 1/2 inputs of the S2400.

And, at the time of my original post, I was hearing a muffled, distorted copy of the input signal through all the other input channels (Line 3/4, Phono 1, Phono 2).

And on Line 1/2, I was hearing a much louder signal, but still very distorted.

Fast forward, fast forward…

After reading everyone’s comments and experimenting a little further, I have figured out that the issue is my external preamp. I didn’t realize the Line 1/2 input on the S2400 had its own preamp. Other machines I’ve used in the past only had a preamp on the Phono input, so this was new to me.

I still want to use my external preamp, because I want the color on the sound. And I have figured out that if I limit the external preamp to the lowest 2 gain settings, that virtually all of my issues disappear.

So, at this stage, I’m past worrying about functionality.

But I am still curious to understand the behavior.

Why does an overly hot signal to one input make all the other inputs go haywire?

And, my last question, which also doesn’t really affect usage is:

Why do I hear the Line 1/2 Input through the Main Outs when the machine is off?

(And this last statement is true no matter what gain setting I have the external preamp on.)

Again, thanks so much to everyone that’s helping me out here.

[andgiraldo]

The notion that you should not care about the condition of an instrument and only focus on producing music is utterly stupid.

[Droe33]

I know right? How dare I…

[eazyian]

@blackrenaissanz

Why do I hear the Line 1/2 Input through the Main Outs when the machine is off?

It seems to just be a minor flaw/oversight in the design of the machine. That’s how everyone’s is.

Strange behavior - audio through s2400 when off

Hi all, I noticed something yesterday and wondered if this is normal behavior or if not what could be causing it: I have the main outputs of my mixer going into inputs 1 and 2 on the s2400, and the mix outputs of the s2400 going to stereo channels 5/6 on my mixer. When I have the s2400 off I noticed that when the mixer output was loud enough, the sound would also start going through the s2400 and the level meter on my mixer 5/6 channels would light up with a lower level signal. When I power on …

Input monitor is outputting distoted audio when S2400 is offf

I was playing back music from my computer to my mixer & I noticed my signal was distorted. I couldn’t figure out what it was coming from?? Then when I turned down the fader of the channel on my mixer that the S2400 is on , it went way. Turns out it was passing back signal from its inputs even though it was off. The signal was low & heavily distorted. Kind of a small problem , but I have never had a sampler do this before.

@blackrenaissanz

Why does an overly hot signal to one input make all the other inputs go haywire?

I don’t think it’s that the hot signal is making 3/4 go haywire, the inputs just have multiple applications for different scenarios. My understanding is that If you want to plug in something with RCA cables that isn’t a turntable (like a tape deck, or your phone with a 3.5mm to RCA) you can plug it into phono1, select line 3/4 while sampling and the signal will bypass the RIAA phono preamp.

I don’t blame you for using your external phono preamp, Id experiment with the same thing if I had a nice one, but have you tried just going direct into the s2400 yet? The internal preamps on this thing are very nice quality!

[NolanGray]

Just go straight into the s2400 1&2 rcas from the turntable. No need for a pre amp. And make sure you use the grounding post on the s2400.

[blackrenaissanz]

That’s what I ended up doing. Solved all my issues.

[blackrenaissanz]

Thanks for the perspective man.

Just wanted to add though, I understand what you’re saying about Phono 1/2 being normalized to Line 3/4. But that’s not what I was describing. I could hear line 1/2 coming through all the other inputs in a super muffled distorted way.

But all good. I just got rid of the external pre and it fixed everything.

It’s a really nice high-end tube phone preamp. It’s a shame I couldn’t use it. But I was having some other unrelated issues with it too, so F it.