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Did Deluge output sounds "dull" to you?!

2
ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

I love my Deluge, and when I'm using it with my headphone, it seems to sound good... I usually record the Deluge stereo outputs in Logic, mix a little, and then exports the final result... in the almost finished songs, I feel that the samples from Deluge sounds kinda "dead" or "dull"... no energy, no life... I'm using good sounding samples... maybe it's a mastering thing... or maybe the recording levels are not high enough... I have some difficulties to get a good level from the jacks outputs... but like... for now, my plugins, like Alchemy, is sounding kinda better than the samples from Deluge in a mix... I saw a video once where the Deluge was passing thru a hardware compressor (or something else?!) before the soundcard... any tips would be appriciated!

Comments

  • 0
    krunchrkrunchr Mainz, GermanyBeta Tester Posts: 70

    So far I didn't notice that samples are degraded in sound when playing in the Deluge. Of course, there are many parameters that can influence this.

    I'm more worried about the Deluge's leveling behavior:

    • Mixing tracks is uncomfortable, because there is no dedicated mixer page.
    • Compared to my other gear (Digitakt, Minilogue XD, SonicCell), the Deluge's output level is pretty low.
    • On the other hand, the internal levels of many factory presets are set far too high, so internal distortion can quickly occur if you play more than one or two notes.
  • 0
    ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

    Agree... yeah there's no change in the samples quality... it's just really hard to get good levels... if I don't put all the levels high up I can barely see a wave in Logic.

  • 0
    llexamllexam USABeta Tester Posts: 73

    Dull sounding? I find the DAC in the Deluge (Cirrus Logic CS4270) to be quite bright sounding actually. Often too much so. Have you tried using the Deluge's onboard EQ on your samples to add energy/life? Also, resampling internally and then transferring to your DAW will bypass the converters and make it easier to get hotter levels (post-production).

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    ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

    @llexam said:
    Dull sounding? I find the DAC in the Deluge (Cirrus Logic CS4270) to be quite bright sounding actually. Often too much so. Have you tried using the Deluge's onboard EQ on your samples to add energy/life? Also, resampling internally and then transferring to your DAW will bypass the converters and make it easier to get hotter levels (post-production).

    Thanks for the tips! For your resampling tip, do you mean to load the re-samples directly in my DAW? I don't know much about resampling, can we do a kind of "audio export" for let's say the BD, by resampling it for an entire 4-5 min. song? And then load the audio file in Logic? Would be great...

  • 0
    ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

    I just read it in the manual... yeah that'll solve my problem! I didn't even know I could do that... make sense.

  • 0
    ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

    But now I got a new problem... the audio files that I create and import into Logic becomes gradually out of sync after a couple of bars... don't understand... they kinda accelerate...

  • 0
    raytracerraytracer Posts: 2
    edited June 2019

    [deleted]

    Post edited by raytracer on
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    AndrewChiAndrewChi BelgiumPosts: 12

    Well... I hate to post this, because I love my deluge but...
    My live setup mixes a deluge with a laptop setup with an RME UCX soundcard.
    I have to put the Deluge through a Sherman/Rodec Restyler and pump it hard, otherwise I cannot get it to pierce through. I didn't have that 'problem' with an octatrack and machinedrum.
    I don't know what it is, but the deluge always sounds very well... delugy. I find myself searching for deluge users and songs on youtube to see if I also hear that distinct sound, which I'm not sure I always like.

    Anyway I love the deluge a lot and I'm sequencing more and more outboard from it, which of course bypasses the problem.

    Just my 2 cents.

  • 0
    pfrfpfrf ca, u.s.a.Posts: 165

    I use my own samples, sometimes I use the internal synth but not in every song. I don't hear any difference when I sum a bunch of drum samples in Deluge or in Logic, it sounds the same. I have more options for processing in Logic, but the Deluge doesn't impart any particular sound. I think if you've identified a distinct 'Deluge sound' it has to do with using the included dry drum samples + internal synth.

    The d/a sounds very good, I record the audio outs of the Deluge and it sounds great. Although I send the Deluge audio into a mixer so I am not affected by overall volume issues.

    If I MIDI sync the Deluge to Logic I get no drift at all. The timing is tight. If I don't MIDI sync one piece of MIDI gear to the first it will drift every time. I've never owned a piece of gear that didn't, thankfully they invented sync.

  • 0
    AndrewChiAndrewChi BelgiumPosts: 12

    I think it has a lot to do with the effects section, which of course have their own sound, making it sound 'deluge'.
    I also use my own samples, but do use the filters and effects-section on it. It seems logical they affect the sound and it's pretty subjective whether you like it or not...
    I also think the sound quality of the deluge is more than decent.
    The sync is also pretty stable imho.

  • 0
    rudolphrapidrudolphrapid Beta Tester Posts: 129
    edited January 2020

    It's interesting to read about low Deluge audio outs. I send the audio from Deluge to my sound card, I crank up the line in a bit more than half the way up on sound card, Deluge's output level is also around the middle position, and I sometimes get clipping on the sound card and in the DAW when recording :)

    Post edited by rudolphrapid on
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    NRuckNRuck UKBeta Tester Posts: 80
    edited January 2020

    I think the generally low output volume from the Deluge is almost entirely due to the fact it sets the default value of every sound to 64 (ie halfway between 0 - 127) I often crank these values when I am putting a song together. You should find that helps but I would love to see the option to default to a higher value implemented in an update. Think this has already been put forward in the software suggestions forum by another Deluger

    Post edited by NRuck on
  • 1
    IcoustikIcoustik NorwayModerator, Beta Tester, Mentor Posts: 1,017

    @AndrewChi said:
    Well... I hate to post this, because I love my deluge but...
    My live setup mixes a deluge with a laptop setup with an RME UCX soundcard.
    I have to put the Deluge through a Sherman/Rodec Restyler and pump it hard, otherwise I cannot get it to pierce through. I didn't have that 'problem' with an octatrack and machinedrum.
    I don't know what it is, but the deluge always sounds very well... delugy. I find myself searching for deluge users and songs on youtube to see if I also hear that distinct sound, which I'm not sure I always like.

    Anyway I love the deluge a lot and I'm sequencing more and more outboard from it, which of course bypasses the problem.

    Just my 2 cents.

    If you're using the Deluge without a velocity sensitive MIDI controller, you might wanna turn the velocity of your sounds up towards 127 - it defaults to 64. Which will be low in volume, especially if your gainstaging isn't great.
    Hold a note on the grid and turn the <>-knob. All notes and audition pads touches after that will default to the last set velocity in that clip.

    ~ Distinguished Delugate ᕕ( ◎_◎)ᕗ

  • 0
    HotelsinusHotelsinus HungaryPosts: 29

    yes absolutely low energy... create new synth subtractice with one sinewave osc and it never get -45dB .. thats terrible for a clean sinewave synth. no power no energy at all. but this is just level problems i think,. for those who reply quick i have 200W power EMU Sub in my system so i have enough power in my system for subs... deluge synths did not have any power of sub levels.. especially the filters are sound very very cheap and low! no power in the filtered sound just a pure simple NOSOUND at all! i hope it gets fixed asap coz its useless at this point. im go back to my model:cycles and samples.. sorry :=(

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    ClydePaquinClydePaquin Montreal, QuebecPosts: 27

    I need to apologize here... for me it was just a stupid thing... I have the UR28m from Steinberg as a soundcard and I was SURE that my 4 jack inputs were the same, turns out only the first 2 inputs are "regular" ones, the 2 other are at a lower volume... (if I had knew, I wouldn't have bought it!) anyway so in the 2 main inputs the levels are perfect. Sorry about that o:)

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    3phase3phase berlinPosts: 2

    Hello, i came to this forum to find out more about problems deluge might have, despite all that euporic internet reviews of today. you get informed about what there is to desire.. everything else you find out after you buy,

    I ve realized that all the euphoric youtube reviews never demonstrate good sounding sampling quailties but show a lot of lofi crunch and old fashioned stutter fx... Is that because of personal prefferences of the testers, or the try to hide weak points?
    How good is the sample playback quality?

    I dont need high quality samples often, but when i need them,..than a dull sound quality would hurt a lot..

    problem on a device like deluge is that it will have probably no fixed samplerate based clocking..like on pro hardware daws.. but permanent samplerate conversion applied to a sample.. This reduces the audio quality allways the way samplerate conversion does that..and its not really nice.. but rather unavoidable today.

    Question, is this samplerate conversion already the "dull" sound you are talking about in this thread?

    on many classic devices digital leveling and bitwidth conversion has shown a dull and weakening fx..
    not because they screwed with the samplerate. but because of bad digital gain staging..where so many rounding errors got introduced into the samples that they sounded weak even after you brought up the gain again..

    So where stands deluge here?

    Could be one of the proud owners of a deluge maybe fabricate a comprehensive demo file?
    I know its to much to ask for..
    but if like in this thread people wonder if their unit does sound a little dull..maybe lets others judge about that?

    One source sample made with a good quality, gets replayed by 2 competing samplers, an rerecorded into the daw.. so you have the original..reference sampler..and deluge version..

    Thats the only way to have something compareable..

    The source sample should be a full mix containing acoustic sources over the whole spectrum.. a jazz record with some cymbals and a good bass line in it would be perfect..something with details and bottom.

    Thats the big problem with all this fabrikated "it sounds 100% alike" tests on youtube..
    With a shitty fart sound its not too difficould to just sound 100% alike a shitty fart sound.

    So is here somebody that would like to show the true sound quality of deluges sample engine?

    would be very nice.. and even if it has results not in favor of deluge.. there are still enough other sales arguments..

  • 0
    hexagon5unhexagon5un MunichBeta Tester Posts: 121

    This entire thread is based on a mistake: the OP put the output into the pad inputs of his ADC. I'm glad he got that cleared up! But it's not a Deluge thing.

    Meanwhile, some other folks thought they would help by mentioning the default velocity value of 64 (some sequencers default to 100). This can matter for patches that have velocity effects, but honestly you should be tweaking the velocities anyway if you don't want your sequences to sound robotic. This is a generic sequencer problem.

    If anything, the Deluge is a too easy to push into digital distortion -- at the other end of the spectrum from what you're describing, and not at all "dull". But that's a gainstaging issue, and it's under your control.

    Fundamentally, the sampler in the Deluge is very clean. No "character" or "charm" or "warmth". The sounds coming out sound like the sounds going in. It's not 1998 anymore. (Unless you put it in linear interpolation mode, but then I figure you know what you're getting into...)

    IME/IMO.

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