Curious behaviour of monitoring audio

[PopStarWannabe]

I am recording guitar tracks using Cakewalk's audio monitoring (hence NOT my RME interface's direct monitoring).

I have noticed that monitoring through Cakewalk is noticeably louder than through my interface: 

Source 1: Cakewalk's Input Echo is OFF, direct monitoring through the RME interface is ON: fader of the harware input is at zero (I don't mean the Input Gain) so signal goes to the harware output EXACTLY as it enters the interface plus a bit of  Input Gain which I have raised a bit because of poor pickups.

Source 2: Cakewalk's Input Echo is ON, RME direct monitoring is OFF: fader of the hardware input is at minus infinity. Input Gain kept at the same value.

I mention that there is NOTHING on the ProChanel in Cakewalk  (I removed everything except the EQ - which can't be removed - but this is turned off), there's nothing in the FX bin, track's Volume is at zero, track goes directly to a harware output - so no bus with effects.

Like I said, monitoring through Cakewalk is louder. I checked this 20 times by ear.  It's obvious, I don't need to measure.

Why is this happening?

 

Edited July 18, 2023 by PopStarWannabe

[JnTuneTech]

With the RME interfaces, you have a lot of fine tuning options, that are up to you to set before it gets to Cakewalk. Not the least of which is how the input/output routing & respective volumes are setup in TotalMix - the RME hardware mix controls. -So, for instance, if your TotalMIx direct output signal path is set to a lower volume than say, the DAW channel output(s) you use to send Cakewalk playback to your speakers/headphones,  of course Cakewalk will sound louder, because it was set that way.  - And that is just one example of settings that can affect the relative volume of outputs you describe.

This subject can in fact be confusing for anyone, at the outset, since it's sometimes hard to remember that the hardware outputs of most sound devices have their own mixer, which takes understanding, before connecting it to a DAW. I suggest familiarizing yourself with the RME mixing & setup functions (you would need to anyway to set initial microphone levels, headphone impedance matching, etc.), and then you may understand better the relative volume levels of the audio paths you set - it will really help you to do all that before you assume just connecting something in Cakewalk will just automatically be balanced or preset.  And, you can try experiments to figure out how to get what you want , save mix settings, and so on - the RME documentation is all there (though I admit some of it is a bit dry!), and eventually when you get comfortable with the options, you may even find some great creative audio routing and even processing options with the RME audio hardware & Cakewalk together, Give it a try!

Edited July 19, 2023 by JnTuneTech

[JnTuneTech]

21 hours ago, PopStarWannabe said:

Source 1: Cakewalk's Input Echo is OFF, direct monitoring through the RME interface is ON: fader of the harware input is at zero (I don't mean the Input Gain) so signal goes to the harware output EXACTLY as it enters the interface plus a bit of  Input Gain which I have raised a bit because of poor pickups.

In that scenario, you may also want to check: If you use a bus in Cakewalk - whether or not the gain is changed there (or anywhere else in the path). On the RME side - whether or not the gain is changed there by FX if you have enabled "EQ + D" in the Fireface USB driver preferences, as well as the above mentioned hardware mix monitoring levels - does the level of "Software Playback" to your choice of monitoring output match your "Hardware Input" monitoring level?

-Most of this you can use your ear for, of course, but also remember that the metering at the hardware level (TotalMix or the front panel) may be the most useful for troubleshooting the actual levels coming out at the end.

If this were for studio calibration or something more serious, I would suggest trying the old fashioned method - putting a test tone through the chain, and using the metering options to validate the gain staging. I used to have a console with a built-in tone generator, just for that purpose.  -In this case though, you could probably just find a synth or similar sound source, to create a steady pitched output with no modulation, and input that on one of the hardware input channels, and follow the levels through to the end, to check for parity mismatch. -Again though, in this case, maybe you are just curious - but it's up to you, experimenting can be fun, and lead to other creative discoveries, again...  IMHO.

Edited July 19, 2023 by JnTuneTech