UA Ox Box: Playing silently with headphones and backing track

lukedlb · January 2023

Yes, keep an eye on clipping. An engineer’s eye on the meter is NOT that of a guitarist where common sense says Zero is a good thing. Keep it under that, at the most touching the yellow and Never go into the red.

The room mic is the game changer.

Musicwolf · January 2023

slawler said:

Ignore me all sorted!

I'm guessing that you didn't have the monitor switch engaged in the DAW? We've all done it.

lukedlb · January 2023

Musicwolf said:

slawler said:

Ignore me all sorted!

I'm guessing that you didn't have the monitor switch engaged in the DAW? We've all done it.

For that matter, if your interface has its own mixer, decide if you want to hear the guitar after it has been processed in your DAW or not and remember to turn off one of them. I had both the mixer guitar and DAW guitar track on at the same time.

Of course you won’t need a DAW unless you want to record or need to process further the ox signal. Seeing as the ox provides all you need for treating a guitar, you need only use the interface mixer and a music app if you want to play along. Don’t forget to tell your Mac to use the interface instead of its built in audio card.

slawler · January 2023

So I am now fiddling again and trying to work out if I am using the audio interface properly with the Ox (I suspect not).

Using the headphone port and dial directly on the Ox is sounding good, however when I switch over to the line out and headphones through the audio interface there seems to be quite a bit of 'white noise'. Does anyone know why this could be?

I have attached a screenshot below showing the setting on my audio interface and hoping its just a small error I have in the settings used...

lukedlb · January 2023

Turn on stereo link for left and right faders. Pan 1 to full left, 2 to full right.

Analogue level should be Line in, not an instrument.

keir · January 2023

I have an older duet 2 and had some white noise with the output level at +4, if you turn it to minus 10 the noise was gone and there is also a much better sweep on the volume.

lukedlb · January 2023

Yes, I too had all my levels way up on my antelope interface and was getting noise. My reaction was I got the wrong kit but it’s not the case. I just set it up wrong. Expecting a new interface to fix it might find you with the same problem. In theory, the work duty of the interface in this case is the simplest of all, where a budget interface would be fine.

My only criticism of my interface is the lack of specific instruction videos. UA and its fans have videos that cover everything. I think there is an expectation that we already know how to engineer. Unfortunately, we’re guitarists, some of us more old school than others.

slawler · January 2023

lukedlb said:

Turn on stereo link for left and right faders. Pan 1 to full left, 2 to full right.
Analogue level should be Line in, not an instrument.

Thanks for all your help - I have nearly worked it all out.

Just one thing I am struggling with now. When you say the analogue level should be line in, not instrument, I am only getting a reading when it is on the 'instrument' option.

The only choices in the 'Analog Level' menu for this are: Mic, +4dbu, -10 dbu or instrument.

I have attached two pictures below showing a reading coming through on the 'instrument' tab and no reading for the '+4 dbu' tab (which I assume is one of the line in options):

Appreciate any help!

Musicwolf · January 2023

I'm not familiar with this AI but looking at the screen shot I see that the guitar icon has been replaced with a 3 pin XLR icon suggesting that you are maybe monitoring a different physical input? I'll have a look at the manual online.

Musicwolf · January 2023

OK. The +4 / -10 dBu option only applies to the XLR inputs (which can be set for mic or line). The 1/4" jack inputs are HiZ only. You can put a line level signal through them but you'll have to adjust the gain knob to find the optimum setting

If you have a colourised meter then keep it in the green. There is a tendency, even amongst musicians who are too young to have worked with tape, to push signals to just below clipping. There is no need to do this. This is a hangover from the days of tape where signal to noise ratio was an issue. In today’s world of 24 bit digital you don’t have to worry about this and you should be leaving plenty of headroom.

This can all seem a bit overwhelming at first but stick with it. You'll get there and looking back you'll wonder why it was all so difficult.

slawler · January 2023

Thank you.

So if I discount the +4 and -10 option on the ‘Analog Level’ tab, this only leaves ‘Mic’ and ‘Instrument’ to choose from - which one of these options would I use?

Would the ‘Mic’ be deemed the line in option needed?

Apologies for being such a novice but I can’t find any guidance online for this.

slawler · January 2023

Also I am only running one trs cable from the ox box to the instrument out on the breakout cable.

Should I be running two separate trs cables from the ox to the audio interface?

brucegill · January 2023

slawler said:

Also I am only running one trs cable from the ox box to the instrument out on the breakout cable.

Should I be running two separate trs cables from the ox to the audio interface?

Two. One for left, one for right. Then you get the full stereo output from the ox and it’s lovely reverbs and duel mic sims.

By the sounds of it, you need to be running both channels on the interface on “instrument”. Only other thing you might want to try and compare is TRS vs TS cables from the OX as you might get a volume drop with one set. But hard to judge as I don’t own the same interface. Seems odd those two inputs only allow “instruments” through the 1/4” jacks.

brucegill · January 2023

I’m an ideal world you really want some XLR (female) (MALE) to 1/4” TRS cables x2 and run them from the OX to the XLR

slawler · January 2023

brucegill said:

I’m an ideal world you really want some XLR (female) to 1/4” TRS cables x2 and run them from the OX to the XLR

Thank you.

I did ask this earlier in the thread and was told to use the Instrument in port rather than the XLR port. I probably didn’t explain myself properly though.

So it seems that I need to run two line ins to get stereo and XLR seems to be the best option.

The breakout cable for the audio interface has a female xlr port, so if I order two 1/4 balanced trs to male xlr cables should this work?

brucegill · January 2023

slawler said:

brucegill said:

I’m an ideal world you really want some XLR (female) to 1/4” TRS cables x2 and run them from the OX to the XLR

Thank you.

I did ask this earlier in the thread and was told to use the Instrument in port rather than the XLR port. I probably didn’t explain myself properly though.

So it seems that I need to run two line ins to get stereo and XLR seems to be the best option.

The breakout cable for the audio interface has a female xlr port, so if I order two 1/4 balanced trs to male xlr cables should this work?

Shit, sorry, I said female for some unknown reason. YES, you want to use the 2 XLR inputs on the breakout cable from the Duet (it says these are for line or mic). so yes, you're correct, order two 1/4 balanced trs to male xlr.

brucegill · January 2023

from page 15 in the manual:

Connect microphones and line level audio gear to the XLR inputs.
● Connect dynamic and condenser mics to XLR inputs, then set Analog Level to Mic from Apogee Control 2 (link). When using condenser mics, be sure to engage 48v phantom power.
● Connect analog line level audio gear line outputs to the XLR inputs using the appropriate adaptor if required. Set Analog Level to +4 dBu for professional sources, set to -10dBV for consumer level sources.
So I'd try +4dbu first and start with the gain low, then adjust to suit. If thats not getting you the right levels, drop the gain and try -10dbV, then adjust gain to suit

lukedlb · January 2023

just a double check with others more knowledgable: when the ox is connected via SPidf, the sample rate has to be 44.1. Is that the case when it's just a line-in too?
I thought Hi-Z wasn't only about additional gain. Then again, I plug my piano into my Hi-Z inputs and tell the AI to regard them as Line-in instead.
Does the XLR input have the 1/4 inch input option too? I could plug my piano into the XLR inputs on my AI but I prefer to keep them free for microphones.

lukedlb · January 2023

slawler said:

Thank you.

So if I discount the +4 and -10 option on the ‘Analog Level’ tab, this only leaves ‘Mic’ and ‘Instrument’ to choose from - which one of these options would I use?

Would the ‘Mic’ be deemed the line in option needed?

Apologies for being such a novice but I can’t find any guidance online for this.

no need for apologies. I stopped playing guitar for a year because I couldn't work the damn thing out and it had ruined the pleasure of playing and the ease of just plugging into an amp and schwanG!!!!

brucegill · January 2023

lukedlb said:

just a double check with others more knowledgable: when the ox is connected via SPidf, the sample rate has to be 44.1. Is that the case when it's just a line-in too?
I thought Hi-Z wasn't only about additional gain. Then again, I plug my piano into my Hi-Z inputs and tell the AI to regard them as Line-in instead.
Does the XLR input have the 1/4 inch input option too? I could plug my piano into the XLR inputs on my AI but I prefer to keep them free for microphones.

SPdif is digital, so tied to the 44.1. Line outs are analog, so you pick the sample rate you want in your audio interface as it’s doing the conversation from analog to digital for you.

Musicwolf · January 2023

lukedlb said:

just a double check with others more knowledgable: when the ox is connected via SPidf, the sample rate has to be 44.1. Is that the case when it's just a line-in too?

No. The line out is analogue so the sample rates do not need to be matched. When using a digital connection both units need to be operating at the same sample rate and one device acts as master whilst the other is set to slave.

Rod.D · August 2023

I have the OX and Apollo X. The next step is to get an EXTC Reamp Stereo, so you can record through OX and Direct to the apollo, then reamp your DI signal using pedals or even the amp to finetune your tones

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UA Ox Box: Playing silently with headphones and backing track

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