Somethings not right..

[musikmachine]

I got a korg emx-1 yesterday and first thing i did was plug my monitors straight in(event tr8s)and went through the factory patterns,playing around with the volume and the tube gain. I was surprised at how loud it was and the volume was half way with no more than 25% on the tube gain.I turned it down so i could hear how the tube affected the output but overall it was still loud.

The next thing i did was to use th emx as a step sequencer in live with battery and i went through several of the kits playing one of the factory patterns and i was surprised at how bad the kits sounded by comparison the drums from the emx,they sounded terrible(batters not the emx )!

So today thought i might try some recording/sequencing into ableton.I connected the outs of the emx to the inputs of my xstation and hit play.Even at low volume the red leds are flashing on my xstation and when i add tube gain severe distortion is occuring.

So straight into the monitors fine,no distortion and plenty of headroom with tube gain applied(the way i like it ).

Through the preamps on the xstation,leds clipping and when i apply tube gain severe distortion occurs.

Is this normal or does it sound like a fault with the preamps?I need more headroom than the preamps give me.I had same issue with my ks4 and when i posted on the yahoo group for novation synths the reply i got was 'turn it down'

I reduced the input gain to -10 on the xstation.There is some clipping in the leds but the vu in ableton is below 0db, it's not even touching red;are the leds on the xstation too sensitive?

[BertKoor]

Do you use XLR (mic) or Jack (line) input sockets of the XStation?

Never feed a line signal into a mic socket. It's too loud because you don't need the mic preamp.

Or have a look at page 10 of the XStation manual: set the gain very low...
Also doesn't hurt to lower the output volume of that sending device.

[musikmachine]

I know that stuff BK.I think it is case of getting the balance right with the input gain but i routed the emx through my mixer yesterday and th vu was peaking at 0db but again the leds were flashing red.The distortion i mentioned turns into a harsh crackling which makes me think there's somethin up with the pres. as i said my levels appear to be fine in ableton and my mixer too..

I'll post over at the xstation user group,see if any one can enlighten me.

Peace

[BertKoor]

" Sounds like the XStation has mic inputs only, and the synth delivers line.... That's THE recipe for distortion.