Hey,
i´m using my pisound with modep and I go straight into the PiSound input with my electric guitar. even when the input potentiometer is set to the lowest value, it clips audibly (and visibly) when i strike the strings hard.
sometimes it also clips audibly, although it is not indicated visually.
Is there an option for levelling the guitar?
@janice I had the same problem with my active basses into PiSound. I wound up getting and building the MOD Step Ladder
i’m not sure i want another device just to compensate for the weakness of another one. there must be another solution somehow…
@janice I don’t consider the input level of Pisound a weakness, it’s just how they built the device. I have requested that future versions of the card have a built in attenuator or the input gain be changed from 0db to +40db to maybe -15db to 25db.
I have found no other way to accomplish this drop outside of just turning down the guitar volume, which is not generally desirable
sorry, my answer was a bit harsh. i love the pisound. i just already have a norns shield integrated into my setup, and for that i need both a preamp and a truebypass. the same for the pisound would be a bit too many devices for me.
i just didn’t realise in advance that there would be this problem and had mistakenly hoped that there would be a software solution for a hardware problem
@janice no worries! Glad to hear that you’re enjoying your PiSound! It really opens up a lot of tonal possibilities, especially with the AidaX and NAM additions.
I also understand why you don’t want to add another pedal to your setup. For me it’s just one pedal and PiSound, nothing else.
Perhaps @Giedrius or @Pranciskus might be willing to comment on their thoughts on potentially changing the PiSound input level?
The Pisound’s input level range is tailored to achieve recording a very wide frequency spectrum, that’s why some people use Pisounds to record ocean whale sounds. 
Shifting the range would result in attenuating the high frequencies, limiting the 192kHz mode.
Changing this behavior at some point for Pisound would impact many users who already rely on the current audio input specifications, so it’s quite unlikely to get changed.
@Giedrius if I may, could I suggest a switch in the PiSound to toggle between the two input levels? The PiSound would come shipped with the switch set to the current input range. Those of us with “hot” output signals could utilize the switch to drop the input.
for now, and probably only for me, i have found a solution. since the norns shield actually needs a preamp and the pi sound actually needs the opposite, i have connected both in series. first norns shield, then pisound, so that the signal arrives at the pisound just right and can then be boosted by the pisound via the master control without any major loss of quality.
PiSound supports 2.5Vpp signal at Gain = 0. So gain pot all the way down in theory though I’m fairly certain a small amount of resistance is still present even when physically all the way down, so realistically the practical input voltage to avoid clipping is ~2.1Vpp. Guitars can range from ~300mVpp to over 5Vpp. Turning the volume pot down works, but that sin’t the right answer for most players as you can lose tone quality which would be expected.
This was pretty frustrating to me and I really wanted to be able to stay below 0dbV on the input monitor in MOD, so I decided to try and solve it myself. My goal was transparent, non-resistive attenuation. After about 6 weeks of research and development (self funded), I can say that I have a solution in the form of a pedal. It is still in beta testing right now, but so far it’s been a game changer and I do plan to move from prototype to PCB very soon. My goal is to help, not profiteer though I do plan to sell kits and pre-built pedals for those who are interested. Affordability is very important to me, so likely there will be a couple of tiers regarding hardware. More to come soon.
@themarshall I would be interested in what you come up with. As mentioned in the post earlier, I use the MOD Step Ladder to attenuate the input into the Pi.
That looks like a better version of the JHS Little Black Box which is essentially a potentiometer in a box. I considered this solution initially but, from my experience with purely resistive attenuation, I was not satisfied with the change in tone.
I often wonder about that as well. However most modern bass amps have the same basic passive attenuation switch built into them for active basses. Maybe on bass it doesn’t impact the tone as much?
Absolutely! Usually the roll off is on the high end of the spectrum, so bass would be less relevant, but not irrelevant in sum. I would think that some benefit would still remain to be had. I do admit that I am not a bassist
Well I’m certainly interested in what you come up with! Do keep us posted on your development.