Unwanted distorion Eventide Eclipse

You really give us no information, making it hard to help.

My guess is that it is one of the following, in order of likeliness:

1) You are using the low impedance XLR inputs, and your signal source is unable to drive them. If so, try the 1/4" jacks.

2) Whatever follows the Eclipse is being overloaded – try turning down the output.

3) (Least likely) there is a hardware fault in the Eclipse. If you think this is the case, contact your dealer or support@eventide.com

I have the same problem

My input levels show -12db but the sound is completely distorted.

I havent been able to use this once since I bought it. Just a brick in the corner at the moment.

Very dissapointed.

Both SPDIF and analog have the same problem

When I hit bypass it sounds perfect, but when the effects are running it souds distorted.

Doesn’t make any sense that I need to turn my input signal down to -18db to get a clean sound? It’s unuseable like this.

I hope it’s still under warranty coz I bough it last year and have been busy with other work so I just presumed it was me setting something wrong, but now going back to it – it seems broken to me.

Also I am in Australia and I bought it from Thomann in Germany. So I guess they sent me some piece of junk they dropped or something.

As often, little actual information. It is very hard to help you.

What are you connecting to the inputs and outputs ?

If you are connecting to one of the Eclipse's balanced ins/outs, are you either balanced, or correctly unbalanced ?

The fact that you have the same problem with SP/DIF, suggests the problem may be on the output.

What are the meter readings ?

I suggest you discuss it with your dealer.

The weird thing is – some presets sound ok – others sound totally distorted – this is with factory settings. How can that be?

I have never had any issues with my soundcard before.

The Digital In shows -12db

All other levels are set to 0db.

The analogue inputs are unplugged.

I have an audio file whihc peaks at -12db playing on a channel in Cubase 7.5 and I have the Eclipse set up an external effect. Send & Return are both set to 0db.

When I play the audio file with the effect off it is totally clean.

When I activate the effect it is distorted.

The Digital In level is ahowing -12db.

It is most noticeable on preset 142 – DetunePlex.

Other presets sound OK, but I am concerned that something is wrong with the digital input on the Eclipse.

Is there any possible reason why the sound would be clean when I press BYPASS, but crackly and distorted when I turn off BYPASS?

Surely this means it is faulty?

(I am using factory presets)

If you can come up with any reason why this would happen please let me know – because otherwise I have to send my Eclipse back to Germany (I live in Australia)

Please give examples of presets showing this behavior.

Does the distortion change if you lower the input level ?

Hello, my eclipse ist from 2018 and at several programs I got the same unwanted distortion. My signalchain is RME-Fireface 802 -> ADAT -> eclipse. I played a Gibson Les Paul direct into the RME with about -18db. This is the level I’ll send to the eclipse. When I check the several level meter, the eclipse shows me maximum -12db. The program 224 ChorusSpace2 is loaded. The space algorythm is aon FXA. I found out, when I lower “Decay” from 93% to 80% in the master of FXA, the distortion went off. When I raise to 100% the distortion is very heavy. It seem, the higher the decay the space algotithm rock up. @eventide stuff: Please would you be so kind and check this if it is possible for you. Thanks in advance. Yours Thomas 

Without being there, it is hard to know. You are probably not overloading the Eclipse input at -12dB, but you may be overloading the effect internally, or whatever follows the Eclipse.

Try reducing first the input gain, then the output gain, to see if the distortion changes.

Have always had the same issue with my Eclipse v4.  I hear distortion at levels that have plenty of headroom / don’t come close to 0 dB.

Here’s an example:

There is a 48k Digital (S/PDIF) signal is going from a UA Apollo X6 to the Eclipse.

The Apollo is the master clock.   The Eclipse is receiving the 48k clock via BNC from the Apollo.  In the Eclipse’s “Dig In Setup”, the connection status reads, “OK Pro”.

A -12 dB signal (a chord made up of 2 sine waves) is sent from the Apollo to the Eclipse.

I load patch 142 “Detune4Plex” (same patch/example provided by the OP).

When the bypass button is enabled, there is no distortion.  The signal sounds fine.

…But when the effect is enabled, the -12dB digital signal distorts

2 files are attached – one is the signal going through the Eclipse in “Bypass” mode —  the other is the signal going through the Eclipse with patch 142 enabled.

Is this normal behavior?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

tbskoglund wrote:

Hello, I can reproduce this issue with a similar setup so I believe this is normal behavior. The internal clipping can vary depending on what program is loaded. If you reduce the input volume and compensate on the output volume, it should work fine. It could be that the DSP inputs are more sensitive when using the digital inputs compared to the analog inputs.

Thanks for the speedy response & confirmation!  Yeah, that’s exactly how I’ve been compensating for the issue (attenuating input gain & increasing output gain).  I was just thinking about signal-to-noise, but guess that it isn’t much of an issue when communicating digitally in 24-bit resolution.

Knowing that you get the same result, possibly because of how the patch/algorithm was programmed, is reassuring.  Only a handful of patches seem to exhibit this behavior.  Glad to know my unit is not defective!

Agreed!  It’s really cool when you begin playing with the assigned Hot Key parameters.  I like to change the detune parameter to a negative value, so that the pitch sweep moves up, rather than down.