M-Audio FastTrack USB - very low signal level (line/guitar)

I've used FastTrack USB for a couple of years with a microphone through the XLR input with no problems. Now I am trying to connect a line output of a synthesizer to the line input of the FastTrack and the signal level is very low. There is no noise, it's just quiet, even with the track volume all the way up it's still no match for the rest of the tracks.
Any suggestions, except for trying all the knobs and switches on the face and back of the unit (tried that already)? Anybody has similar setup?
I use FastTrack for audio input, and built-in audio for output, it's connected through a hub (no problems for two years). In GB microphone is going to the Channel 1 (mono), and still works fine. Synthesizer goes to Channel 2 (mono) and is really quiet. I tried the syn with two different 1/4 cables with no difference. The headphones jack on the front of the FastTrack works fine with the normal level adjustment range, and if I plug in the headphones directly into the line out of my syn, I have sound, quiet (like you would get by connecting headphones to any line out, turntable even) but steady, so the syn must be fine.
Any thoughts?

iMacG4 800MHz (1GB RAM), Mac OS X (10.4.11), SW: all current updates; HW: FastTrack USB, Oxygen8 v2.

Posted on Nov 26, 2007 8:04 AM

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4 replies

Jan 25, 2008 7:26 PM in response to iG.STUDi0

I use a Fast Track with guitar (electric acoustic and straight electric) and Shure mic. It does work very well. The problem is that M-Audio instructions are very poor.
You say that you are getting a signal but that it is very low. What is the volume out setting of you synthesizer set at? What out put from the synth are you using?
I know you said you tried all the different settings on the FastTrack but please bear with me on the next part.
Try switching the button on the back of the FT to "line" instead of "guitar". Adjust the "mic input" to about the 3 oclock position.

Nov 27, 2007 5:50 AM in response to iG.STUDi0

No takers. Hm. OK. After some more research on the Net it appears to be that all the Fast Tracks suffer from the same problem, which makes me believe that it's not a bug, but a feature of an unexplainable kind. Oh, well, back to my old iMic noisemaker (this one works, it's just screened very poorly, so it picks up all the possible interference, and also makes its own little nasty hiss--this is why I switched to the Fast Track a while ago--so I will need to cut it out with an EQ, again). Hopefully, the EQ surgery will not affect the synthesizer's sound consistency as severely as it use to do with a microphone.

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M-Audio FastTrack USB - very low signal level (line/guitar)

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