Hello,

I'm having a distortion issue that involves sending audio from channels in Ableton through a send (ext. out to Korg FX pad) and back into another Ableton channel. I'm using a Presonus Firepod to route audio from Ableton into the L and R inputs on the back of the Korg and I'm using a mono cable from the Korg out to one of the Firepod's inputs.

The sound from the audio channels going to the master is fine. But when the send on said audio channel is turnes up and passes through the Korg, the returning audio is distorted. The distortion isn't very loud, but it's particularly annoying at higher volumes and is amplified a lot if the HP or LP filter on my source audio channel has the resonance cranked...this is very unfortunate, cause I like to like to have my res boosted

I've tried switching out the cables between the Firepod and the Korg but that didn't help. So either the Korg is faulty, the Firepod is faulty, or I've somehow overlooked an issue with my levels in the software. Any suggestions?

I think there are special devices for this... maybe call Guitar Center or something and inquire. Sounds like you have an isolation problem somewhere, you may want to move the power lines you are running and see if that effects it. Also you can try plugging things in to different plugs. But usually distortion like that means some sort of components are damaged either in your audio interface or hardware, or alternatively that your power cables or electric paths are kicking up distortion on the signals.

If you buy something to fix it make sure they have a good return policy on it, you may have to try a few things.

I've never been a fan of Pre-sonus sound cards BUT.....

Also the Korg KP3 has an Input adjust so a clipping signal can be turned down, This a LED next to the upper left knob does it turn red? (Which means you need to turn that top knob down)

Hope that helps!

Also Maybe put the Korg at the very end of the signal path, instead of a send, and run the out of the Kp3 to the soundboard?

Thanks for the tip. I just got off the phone with the nearest guitar center and they suggested that I get dual 1/4" to RCA cable to run from the Firepod's output pair (3/4) to the Korg's L/R inputs.



I'm using a Korg Quad Pad and it has the same input adjust on it, although, the input isn't clipping. With the input turned down low, you can still hear this distortion.

I substituted a pair of headphones for the mono cable that runs from the Korg out into the Firepod and got the same distortion. I then plugged my iPod into the L/R Y-cable that normally connects the Firepod to the Korg and there is no distortion! So I guess this means that my Firepod's outputs are bad (or that all soundcards would give me this issue and I need to do as angryrancor suggested and pick up a new piece of gear.)

Although the latter of the two options would be cheaper, I'm kinda hoping that the issue resides with the Firepod itself because I've been considering replacing it for awhile now...the "stereo" outputs on the back only output in mono. I wonder if fixing the mono outputs would also solve this distortion problem. However, I won't be able to do so because I've lost the original install disk with the software that allows you to pan the output pairs



If I do this, I'll only be able to affect the master and I want to be able to affect sounds in my set independently.

Yeah that Quad huh? Nice!