audio interface>korg kaoss kp1>audio interface>able

[elianmusic]

i have a problem...i can't find ANYONE online who has reported this same problem and it's driving me mad!

basically, i'm trying to use the korg kaoss kp1 as an external effect that i can record in ableton live 8...i am running the audio signal from my mac (ableton live set) into my firewire audio interface (yamaha go 46), out of 2 1/4" jack outputs of the audio interface into the RCA inputs of my korg kaoss kp1 pad, out of the kp1 (RCA out) into 2 1/4" audio input jacks of my audio interface to then record the "wet" kaoss pad affected signal in ableton live. i know how to set this up in ableton live, so i don't need help there...

the issue i have is this (and keep in mind i'm having to convert all RCA cables to 1/4" inputs): when i hook into the RCA "line in" of the kp1, i hear no signal until i turn up the input, only to then hear sharp feedback...if i disconnect and reconnect to the "phone in" input, it works, but there is a loud, overdrive like noise accompanying the effects. so, when i record, i get the ableton live set "wet" kaoss pad signal, but the overdrive sound makes it undesirable. i CANNOT figure out how to get rid of this. is there some problem with adapting RCA jacks to 1/4" mono plugs?

if anyone can offer help, i'd greatly appreciate it!

sorry if any of this is unclear...

cheers!

[thehighesttree]

Sounds like you're getting feedback when you're running the signal back into your computer, which in turn gets re-amplified: any endless loop of sound that keeps amplifying will devolve into feedback hell. I'm caught up in this sort of thing myself right now when I try to route sound from my computer through my rig, then back to the computer. Ultimately you can't have your affected signal comprising any part of the signal you're feeding back out, so work on isolating the output somehow...if recording, try to get a separate signal to your recording device or use an alternate channel into your computer (one that your computer will "hear" but doesn't get re-sent through your KP1)...if not recording then maybe send your final output directly to your monitors straight from your KP1.

[elianmusic]

thanks for the tip...i figured out what i had to do last night...here's the fix:

run the "headphone out" of my mac into the kp1, the output of the kp1 into my audio interface, but in ableton live i had to make sure the output is set to my mac and NOT my interface and the input set to my interface. somehow, this works for me and i'm able to do what i want.

i still can't understand how running the audio from my mac into my interface via firewire, out of the interface into the kp1 in, out of the kp1 back into interface does not work, but for some reason on my setup, it does not. it could be that, for whatever the reason, the output of my interface into the kp1 was overloading it, thus causing distortion and feedback.

some things are best left unexplained i suppose.

anyways, thanks for your help on this. i appreciate your time and willingness to lend a hand!

[thehighesttree]

No worries! Just remember that if you can hear the signal you're affecting coming back into the FX unit then you're gonna have feedback problems...think of it as the FX you add being stacked infinitely and it'll make more sense. Think logically about what's going on and you'll see that your signal contains a stage of infinite multiplication; input feeding the output, getting multiplied by FX. If you're a programmer, "Signal += (fx*numberofLoops)", and numberofLoops is infinitely increasing!

I was hoping I could avoid using the mic-in jack or headphone-out on my computer but I'll probably have to do that to fix my feedback loop; was worried a bout the sound quality degrading but the more I think about it the more I realize that it's really not a big deal. Nice to know that it worked okay for you!