How do I record with Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 ?

[Mario_b]

Hello,

I wonder if anybody can help me out, I searched the web for hours but I didn't find anything relevant.

Problem (short version)

Electric guitar works fine
Unplug Guitar
Plug in Acoustic Guitar
No more signal

Long Version...

I want to hear and record my Sigma acoustic Guitar using a cable, I don't have microphones. I want to record my exercises and maybe add some reverb. That's all I need at this point.

I have:

- New Sigma acoustic Guitar with Presys II Fishman electronics.
- New Focusrite 2i2 Scarlet
- New Ableton Lite DAW

- Old electric Richwood
- Old Roland Cube
- Old cheap Digitech effects pedal with like 30 effects

I can't hear my new guitar when I plug directly into the Focusrite device, there is no signal. I tried all the settings, checked volume and gain etc.

However,
My old electric guitar works fine. The sound is nice and clear.

Now...
If i place the effect pedal between Focusrite and my Sigma acoustic it does kind of work . The quality of the sound is very bad. I really don't like how it sounds.

If I test the Sigma acoustic and Roland Cube that works also and sounds rather nice. It also sounds great with the effects pedal in between.

I'm new at this. Do I need some kind of adaptor or special pedal?
Maybe I'm missing something so fundamental nobody talks about it


Thanks,
Mario

[catdaddy]

It appears you've done a good job of checking each part of your signal chain to identify the problem. The only thing that I can suggest is to try a new battery in your Fishman Presys unit, although the fact that your Sigma sounds good through the Roland Cube makes a battery issue seem unlikely. Still, that's all I've got.

I hope someone else can chime in here to give you a better suggestion. Best of luck in solving the issue!

[KevWind]

Humm that is strange Normally I would suspect either a gain mismatch or a defective pickup or cable on the acoustic

OK so just to make sure there is no miscommunication and to eliminate as many possible variables
Sorry if this sounds simplistic BUT

#1.You are plugging the electric and the acoustic into the exact same jack on the Focusrite (and with the same type of plug ? With the same guitar cable ? ) a 1/4 inch mono male jack, I presume.

#2 .AND Because you are doing that you running both into the same single mono channel in the DAW ?

#3 and with electric you are seeing signal lights in the meters on the Focusrite and in the DAW channel

#4 but when you plug in the acoustic you see absolutely no meter signal lights on the Focusrite and no meterlights the DAW ?

But when you plug the acoustic into the CUBE it works fine ?

If all those are yes then I am at a loss for further suggestions

[ChuckS]

I'm wondering if the input impedance of the Scarlett is too low for your acoustic guitar pickup. The pickup apparently works through the pedal and also into the Roland.

What generation 2i2 are you using? The instrument input impedance of the 3rd generation is 1.5M ohm, which is nice and high. However, I believe the 1st and 2nd generation were much lower.

Assuming the Scarlett was configured correctly when the acoustic was plugged in (set to instrument input), maybe a higher impedance DI is needed between the acoustic and the Scarlett.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

I'm wondering if the input impedance of the Scarlett is too low for acoustic guitar pickup. The pickup apparently works through the pedal and into the Roland.

My first thought (gain mismatch) as well, but one would think there would still be some signal showing in the Focusrite and the DAW (and why I asked for further clarification) ... And a good example of the communication problems on the internet, I assumed he plugged the guitar into the Cube without the "Pedal" since he only indicated placing the pedal between the acoustic and the Focusrite

[Mario_b]

Hi again,

Thanks guys!

KevWind his checklist made me check my new cable again and it was a STEREO cable...
What can I say.. it was very confusing. my electric works just fine with the stereo cable.
In my defence, the cable was suggested to me in the shopping window when I bought my new stuff so yeah...

Well, at least I learned something about cables today. I knew it had to be something simple like that.

Thanks again everybody, I really appreciate the help.

[KevWind]

Good you got it solved, have fun recording