Hi, I am currently experiencing low output levels from my MXB. I have sent a message to support, but it can’t hurt to post here as well. My unit seems very quiet on stock presets and in general, even with the master volume all the way up. I can make the level closer to 0db when I crank up all of the VCO and Filter volumes. Nothing else seems to be wrong. All other controls are operating normally as far as I can tell. I’m just trying to figure out if this is normal. I am using a UA Apollo interface and everything is set to line level. I can make a video to demonstrate the behavior if that would help.
Thanks in advance for any insight!
HI @StadankO and welcome to The Sound Explorers Forum.
Sorry to hear you’re experiencing this, you’ve certainly done the right thing in opening a ticket with support already.
Posting a video or two wouldn’t’ be a bad idea either as it might help to diagnose your issue.
HTH!
Hey @StadankO thanks for posting.
I was going to ask about any possible noise, but you state that the sound quality is just fine, which is good news.
I don’t own an MXB myself, but checking the manual it does state that the output is +4dB, so this does seem a bit on the low side.
I’d be inclined to see what support have to say, unless any other MXB owners could give us their experience.
I’m starting to wonder if there is a gain adjustment internally. The unit doesn’t show any signs of malfunction in any other way and it really seems as if its simply set to -10db instead of +4db.
I’ll certainly share my findings with support.
Also: I’m on the latest version 2.03
I have a couple of synths here that only put out -10dB so it’s not impossible there could be some kind of jumper switch inside the unit. Hopefully Support will be able to enlighten you soon!
Unfortunately, I just got an email stating that they won’t be able to get back to me for sometime. Bummer… I’ve heard bad things about their support.
Hi @StadankO
I don’t know how old your unit is, but if it’s still under warranty perhaps you could contact the seller to arrange a swap/comparison with a different unit?
Unfortunately MANY people only visit forums etc to report negative experiences rather than the myriad positive ones, i think if you visit pretty much any online forum you’ll see that’s the case.
hopefully support won’t take too long with this.
My unit is well out of Warranty being 3-4 years old. It’s probably been doing it all this time. It had been sidelined for awhile and when I brought it out again, I started to wonder about the issue. Thanks for the interaction all the same.
I’ll report whatever I hear back if and when I do.
I just did some testing with my MxB into a MOTU Ultralight Mk 3 (+4dB inputs).
(All levels below are relative to a +4dB input)
Init patch is at ca. -16dB (Edit: it’s lower than that, -20 something). All sources maxed gives a couple of dB below, and with everything cranked, it’s up there at 0dB. By everything cranked, I mean all 3 oscs + 2 subs + noise into both filters with Brutefactor cranked (beware that BF and can reduce the volume in some corner cases), resonance at max, cutoff set for max sound (high), FX at equal d/w mix with max regen and open filter.
So it seems to be in the range from less than -20dB at Init to 0dB for the most maxed out patch (or < -16dB to +4dB for absolute levels).
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Thanks for the reply Doc. I tested and got similar results, so maybe the unit is just fine. The signal strength is boosted about 5db in mono as compared to Stereo. The Stereo signal is slightly off at about 2db lower on the right side. Probably an analog thing. Not worried about that.
My init patch is more like -27db but goes up to about zero with everything cranked and and well above in mono. (more like +6db) I’m guessing that these units are not super accurate to their specs. Again, not a bother in that regard. The MTB is known to be a bit unruly.
It definitely sounds awesome when you get it where you want to go! Running it through a pair of Burl B1D preamps gets even better…Sweet saturation!
There’s a very long chain of analogue circuit elements in there (have you seen that voice card!?), so some variation is probably to be expected. And as you say, it’s the unruly member of the Brute family - I guess that’s some of the attraction 
BTW, maybe I was a little off on the Init patch measurement - my excuse would be low res meters and that the studio is in shambles ATM, as I’m rearranging everything. The testing here was done by stretching cables across the room and running back and forth to tweak the synth and read the meters…
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Standing all day long in front of keyboard and screen is not good for one’s health, as I just found out. 
