Audio configuration in RS2014

[calin_the_dream]

Hi guys,

 

I have a question for all of you. I was studying a song made by Nacho (who is one of the best CDLC creators), namely "The best of times" from Dream Theater. I wrote to him back that on the solos the tones are not the best as I get strange noises out of the guitar, but he told me that for him everyhting is right and nobody else said anything. So I thought that this might have something to do with my audio setup. I have the same problem with other CDLCs like the ones from Gary Moore which for me sound so awful that I cannot play them. Just remembered another one: Brian Adams - All for love (here one of the tone is set so high that sounds are really distorted). 

 

My setup.

Hardware: CPU I7, RAM: 32 GB, Audio: ASUS Audigy XONAR D2 6 channels, sample rate: 192 kHz, Analog out: 5.1 speakers (Video - maybe irrelevant: Nvidia Quadro FX6000 - I don't play anything else but RS on the computer)

Audio volume: around 60% in Windows, 40-50% on the speakers (it's pretty loud :P )

Guitar: Fender Stratocaster (made in Mexico)

Cable: the real tone cable

All software is licensed, no cracks or anything like that

 

Game configuration:

Mixer: all volume levels 100

Audio settings:  Audio engine 2

                         Exclusivity On

                         Real cable gain: -1.2 db

Video settings: let everything the way the game set it up

Play settings: irrelevant

In windows: the cable is acting as a microphone: volume level 17 and the format is 1 channel 16 bit, 11025 Hz (Dictation Quality) both options in Exclusive mode are checked.

I have a spare real tone cable and everything is the same so the cable is not the issue. 

 

 

So, is there something wrong with my setup? Should I change anything? Should I configure something differently?

 

Thanks a lot and really looking forward for your feedback as I feel that with your help I might just improve my RS experience and play some songs which currently might seem to be wrong for me but correct for the others.

One last comment to this post: there are also many songs where everything seems to be in the right order. 

 

Cheers,

 

Calin

 

 

[firekorn]

The weirdest thing is the frequency at 11khz because Ubi suggest a sample rate of 44800hz.

[calin_the_dream]

The weirdest thing is the frequency at 11khz because Ubi suggest a sample rate of 44800hz.

 

the problem here is that when I'm not in the game, the real tone cable is set to 1 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz and changes when I enter the game. 

[firekorn]

I know some people change the cable gain in the windows audio option while the game is running, you might wanna try changing the settings while rocksmith is runing and see if it's part of the problem or not. A sample rate of 11khz seems really weak to say the least...

[calin_the_dream]

I know some people change the cable gain in the windows audio option while the game is running, you might wanna try changing the settings while rocksmith is runing and see if it's part of the problem or not. A sample rate of 11khz seems really weak to say the least...

Well, I did, not is on 44.1 kHz but is all the same. the sound is very sharp in some songs. This is what confuses me, because for other songs, like Octavarium, I have absolutely no problem at all and the song plays wonderfully from start to end

[firekorn]

If the problem isn't consistant (not on all tone) it's probably not your setup the real problem but the combination of both.

 

Many tones are weirdly setup with value and combination nobody would use in real life (nobody ever goes to that 10 on the gain knob on an amp for exemple) so a mix between a tone weirdly build, your specific guitar etc. could create an unusual problem but the first thing to look for now is what's different between the "no problem tones" and the problematic one.

 

I would suggest you get into the tone designer and look up to the tone that you have issue with and play around with the different knob (starting by the amp) to see if changing a bit the setup would really make a difference.

 

The weird thing is that you are the only one having the problem but you might not be. Many people don't report issue for many reason, you might not be the only one facing those problems.

[calin_the_dream]

Yes, this might be the problem indeed. I have tried to load the authentic tones and adjust a little bit the settings and the sound is much better now. All I have to do is to switch to the new tone which fits my guitar better and use it instead of the defined one. 

 

Thank you for taking time to look into this 

[PC Plum]

Calibrate my man, calibrate.

 

All of the info in this thread and I did not see the word calibrate once :(

 

 

I get strange noises off some tones too, especially really heavy tones and acoustic tones.  That's why half my customs have the same tones in them, once I found tones I like that "behave themselves" I stuck to them, maybe tweaking slight eq settings or reverb settings depending on the song.

[calin_the_dream]

Calibrate my man, calibrate.

 

All of the info in this thread and I did not see the word calibrate once :(

 

 

I get strange noises off some tones too, especially really heavy tones and acoustic tones.  That's why half my customs have the same tones in them, once I found tones I like that "behave themselves" I stuck to them, maybe tweaking slight eq settings or reverb settings depending on the song.

 

Thanks Plum, indeed, this is something that I did not try. I'm calibrating my guitar very seldom, only when I change something in the setting or I retune my guitar. I'll try that and see what happens.

[TomSawyer2112]

I experienced that Dolby Home Theater v4 can greatly improve the sound on a 5.1 system, or worsen it, especially if a dialogue enhancer is activated, tones become as described. You don't have a Realtek sound chip, so I don't know if you can give it a try, but for anybody else reading this, it's night and day to have DHT4 or not.

[calin_the_dream]

Calibrate my man, calibrate.

 

All of the info in this thread and I did not see the word calibrate once :(

 

 

I get strange noises off some tones too, especially really heavy tones and acoustic tones.  That's why half my customs have the same tones in them, once I found tones I like that "behave themselves" I stuck to them, maybe tweaking slight eq settings or reverb settings depending on the song.

 

Plum, you were right. It's all about calibration. It didn't run perfectly but there is a major improvement. Major with a capital M. One more question: for the calibration to work with the tones which sound awkward is better to load the tone and do the calibration with it? Or just calibrate let's say every time one starts the game?

 

Thanks again as you saved my day and many songs which were sounding bad :)

[firekorn]

Calibration just set your level of gain for the cable (what is the loudest signal received what is supposed to be 0 noise).

 

Calibration should be done once for a specific guitar on a specific setup and it should not be necessary to go through it again (unless you modify any of the element).

 

The reason i didn't talk about calibration is that tone should not have problem with badly calibrated guitar since all the official tones doesn't have any! It's a tone issue and even if calibration might change the sounds of certain tones, it's not the way the problem should be solved in the first place cause that will probably happen for many others people that won't report to the author that will keep his "bad" tones because he think the problem isn't his fault.

 

The only problem badly calibrate guitar should have (and that's an issue that would happen even on official songs) is bad recognition. Any other problem partially solved by calibration is not an issue created by the bad calibration but something else and therefor, the other part should be dealt with first.

[PC Plum]

You love an argument firekorn :D

 

I think that calibration is so quick and easy that it should be part of any troubleshooting regime, especially to do with weird sounds coming off the guitar.  Anything could have changed that the complainant didn't notice, new strings, new batteries in equipment, game updates, resetting of profiles, reinstall the game, hard reset after crash (including empty tone crashes).

 

It takes seconds, I was only pointing out that if he has went to so much trouble already then taking 30 seconds to calibrate is pretty basic stuff.

 

You do give great advice man, I'm not trying to say you are wrong :(

[firekorn]

That point was more to @@calin_the_dream to also invite him to still talk to the charter about this issue. I'm not saying calibration is bad. It's just not the biggest part of the problem sources. Sure you can do it and it does take no time to do it.

 

@PC Plum on a side note, i think there's a reason why our post counter are so high :p

[PC Plum]

i think there's a reason why our post counter are so high :P

Cause I loves the customs :D

 

 

Also, I got so much great help when I started out that I thought I would repay the debt and try to pass some of my knowledge on.

 

 

 

But mostly cause I love talking customs/RS/sound/hardware/guitars :D

 

[calin_the_dream]

Well guys, about the tones....I talked to Nacho and I do believe him when he says that for his hardware setup the tones are right as he is one of the guys who is doing great CDLCs. And everytime I feel that something besides me makes a song sound bad I always write a feedback. But for example, for the Gary Moore song there was a huge improvement following the calibration.

So there is something about that, even though it doesn't solve everything.  Still, I wonder could it have a better impact in case you are doing it with the tone which sounds bad on your setup? Or just doing it periodically?

 

What firekorn says is also right, with or without calibration there are a big bunch of tones which work perfectly...both from the official and custom DLCS. But as there are maybe an almost infinite number of hardware setups PC-soundcard-guitar....nothing can work out perfectly for everyone

 

Thanks, both of you :)

[Billy_Bunter]

Pardon my penny's worth gentlemen.  I don't know if it would make any difference or not but the sample rate of my Rocksmith USB cable is set to 48000Hz (DVD Quality).  I would have thought 11025 Hz (Dictation Quality) would sound pretty rubbish with music.  Just a thought.

[Tmlt]

Pardon my penny's worth gentlemen.  I don't know if it would make any difference or not but the sample rate of my Rocksmith USB cable is set to 48000Hz (DVD Quality).  I would have thought 11025 Hz (Dictation Quality) would sound pretty rubbish with music.  Just a thought.

I second this! How can amazingly crappy resolution of 11025hz NOT be a problem?

 

I believe you should take the number 48000Hz very seriously.

[PC Plum]

I didn't want to get into that because it could get complicated... :(

 

He did mention it was only set to that when the game is on.  Might be to do with the game engine, and how it analyses the guitar signal.  Maybe it's easier (or quicker on less powerful systems like Xbox 360) to analyse 11KHz than 48KHz.

 

I dunno, only guessing :D

[calin_the_dream]

Well, about that I checked that again, and I think that this was reported only because I was going in and out of the game with other programs opened, as I checked in several times since and it stays at 44.1 kHz (I'll try to set it to the maximum, 48 kHz to see whether there is a difference)

[Tmlt]

Yes, please try to force it to stay at 48kHz.
I think the game will treat it as 48 kHz anyway. If it does then if your cable is set to 44,1kHz the "missing" 3,9 kHz up 48 kHz might become noise.

[Mad_Duck]

I'd see if Nacho charted his stuff using a humbucked guitar. I'm guessing you've got single coils in the Mexi-Strat. I've charted some stuff that had bad tones if I took the settings too extreme, then switched from my LP to my Strat. (or the other way around.) ((also, all the stuff others have mentioned already :))  

[calin_the_dream]

Sorry I was out of town for a few days...On my strat I have two single coils and a humbuck but aside from the slightly different tones, which might be do to their position I don't see a difference between them. 

I'm trying to use now the tones from Octavarium which, most of the time are excellent for this song.

 

One possible dumb question, as I never attempted to do a custom (lack of time and skill) but could I change the tones on a cdlc or not?

[Tmlt]

You can add-delete-edit tones in the toolkit.