Diva presets too loud

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Something needs to be done.. call Captain Hindsight :lol:

If I didn't knew any better, I'd be thinking that Diva doesn't sound that great in some cases but luckily I have a big db meter telling me when it's clipping and I'll just turn the level down.

Happened to me once, long ago when I was testing a compressor.
I was complaining that it sounded bad.. but turned out it was very good. I just clipped the hell + limiting the output while testing without noticing. :hihi:

Keeping an eye on the db meter when things sound "odd" ever-since :D

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EvilDragon wrote:Some presets are indeed going into red in Reaper...
Same in Live...

I turn the master volume down a bit and re-save the preset.

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I find the same with ableton - you try to play a nice chord and bam - overload. And considering youre conscious of cpu going into red - its kinda demoralising when youve to be conscious of volume as well. I think its a bit strange - even if the vols were slightly more conservative I think it would help alot. Not all that pleasant to play presets off the bat.

In ableton - even patches with really conservative levels on the volume knob Im turning down more. Its the 1st action I do playing DIVA - really interrupts the flow of running through presets.

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jumpercable wrote: In ableton - even patches with really conservative levels on the volume knob Im turning down more. Its the 1st action I do playing DIVA - really interrupts the flow of running through presets.
Just turn the track volume down a bit and go through presets... no biggie

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Same experience here in Cubase 10.

The Diva presets output levels seem extremely high.

eg. The preset "Rubber Funk". The default output level is "120". with notes in octave C1-C2, velocity 90, this outputs +6b at 50hz!

I can dial the Diva output down to the minimum "1" if I use shift-mouse-wheel to get fine control. But output still peaks in the DAW channel at -11db at 50Hz.

And if I change preset, the master output jumps up to 100+ again.

So I need to insert something after Diva to output by -20db.

Am I missing something?

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It definitely has some loud presets compared to other plugins. Nothing that can't be cured by some gain staging

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I agree that the Diva presets are way too loud but I don't get how this is news to anyone because it's the same issue with just about every soft synth I've ever used.
It seems to be the industry standard to have your presets peaking at (and often over-shooting) 0dbfs. I guess it's a kind of Loudness proxy war.
It's unfortunate and I wish more companies (including Uhe) would go against the grain and set reasonable levels for their presets, but it certainly is not a problem that is unique to Diva.

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It's interesting how little this topic is discussed.

This is a rampant problem affecting many presets across most synths. Even some of the best names out there will leave an odd clipper or two in their sets.

I think synth presets should aim around 0db on the K-14 scale, whenever possible. I find it a good balance for audition and subsequent usage in a real world mix. Everything from there on will flow much easier at that sort of gain setting.

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I don't think Diva is that bad. Just checked the TUC Rubber Funk preset here and the peaks are around -6dbfs. About 6db higher than I'd personally like, but not clipping. I keep Ice9 on my output and I don't recall Diva triggering it.

Now Zebra...Zebra is a whole different story. That one's got some loud presets.

I feel like Hive and some of the newer U-he synths have healthy and consistent levels. Again, probably a bit higher than I'd prefer, but nothing I'd consider terrible.

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I know this thread spans almost 9 years..but I see it was revived a bit ago. And I've been searching Google and have noticed working on an entire song with Diva that some of the tracks I use chords in are kind of clipping internally....Would like to know if this is a thing for others still using Diva? I just bought it.

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We have since adjusted the levels. They’re fine now.

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My bad, I misinformed the team, internally I'm halfway done with adjusting the volumes in Diva but it's not included in the current release version, not sure when I'm done.

Viktor

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Okay thank you. So is there any way around this? I turn the gain down for some presets very low and it still has some digital distortion / scratching. I have no compression or any other fx on it and it still occurs.

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seanmour wrote: Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:04 amSo is there any way around this?
Just turn the faders down in your DAW's mixer. There's no sense in trying to hit 0dbfs peaks in your DAW. I think the conventional wisdom is to have the peaks hitting between -18 to -12.

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I turn down all levels possible and still have scratching -- DAW mixer gain, internal Diva VST gain, etc. Yes definitely not at 0dB. I try your levels recommended and it still happens. Turned off all FX on bus, track as well as master. It still distorts and scratches. Just seeing if this happens to anybody else because I have troubleshot quite a bit and it still occurs :neutral:

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