2 replies to this topic

[1uster]

Hello there!

After the discussion about background noises and such stuff I thought I look deeper in the details of the sound of hawken. I did this with an analyser tool delivered with my soundcard, a RME Fireface UCX. It's called Digicheck and you can measure very precise a lot of things regarding the audio (output). I already mentioned in another thread that the default settings for audio in game are kind of bugged. So the important thing is to avoid digital clipping. That happens when your soundcard gets signals from the software that reach the highest possible volume that it can deliver - simply spoken. Please remind that after the conversion of the digital signal in the analog domain you have some kind of amp (integrated in the soundcard) to deliver the needed power for your headphones. In case of speakers you have line-outs (=fixed level) and control the volume with your speaker-setup. This happens after the conversion into analog and everything which happens during conversion can't get undone afterwards. So when the software is clipping your converters (=soundcard) the child already felt into the well. Clipping just means that some audio events won't come as "loud" out of the box as they should but distorted (not necessarily audible). Also this means it alters the mix of all the audio events happening b/c now the difference between very loud and soft elements in the mix gets smaller. In audio engineering this often is used in a kind of artistic way. But it's used in controlled manner and not blindly. The audio settings in Hawken deliver a clipped signal - blindly. Here are my settings which worked good and I would recommend:
Master: 0.45 *
Sound FX: 0.50 *
UI Menu FX: 0.75
Cockpit: 1.00
Menu Music: 0.35
Game Event Music: 0.60
* These are the important once I think. The others you can adjust as you like.

With these settings I got a highest peak while playing of -1.8 dBFS which leaves some headroom - which is good. If these settings feel too quiet for you just rematch the volume k n o b (why is that censored_) of your speaker/headphone system.
In case something is unclear, just ask, I will try to explain.

Have a nice day.

Edited by 1uster, March 10 2014 - 08:48 PM.

[Beefsweat]

Not super on-topic but how do you like the UCX_ I've been using the 800 for a few years now.

[1uster]

Love that thing. Upgraded from an UC. I switched my studio-mixer-setup completely digital - using the card only with their EQs and compressors. The sound of them is very usable, you can control a lot via MIDI which I need for live performance and the workflow is a dream. No noise, adjusted listening volume recallable and one nice detail: the auto-gain function makes recording with the pres a dream.
A friend has the flagship UFX and the DUREC feature is used very often recording whole festivals. I loaned it for a session with other musicians as "mixer-extension" and failsafe recorder. Fantastic. If upgrading is worth it_ Depends on the use-cases... :-)