Understanding direct monitoring, is it working correctly?

[conanthewarrior]

Hi everyone, I have a question about direct monitoring. 

I am under the impression that if I enable direct monitoring on my focusrite scarlett 2i4, I should be able to hear my voice with zero latency, but also apparently my backing track in logic when I play it if I have muted the input in logic. 

The only thing is if I have it turned all the way to the left towards input, I can hear my voice but not what is playing back in Logic. I have to set the dial to say halfway to hear my voice as well as what is playing in logic, but my voice is very low. 

If I unmute the track in logic, I hear myself better but that is after the small amount of latency it takes. It is so small I don't even really need direct monitoring on but am trying to work out if it is working correctly or not. 

I have been watching videos for the newer interfaces where it is done with a button, selecting mono or stereo input monitoring. I can select mono or stereo with a toggle switch, then above is the dial saying "Direct Monitor". 

So, is it working as it should and I do need the dial in the middle to be able to hear the backing track/project in logic, or is something going wrong here? 

[des99]

Everything is fine. What you are probably finding is that your vocal recording level is low, compared to a backing track which may be using virtual instruments etc at a comparably much higher level.

If you want to direct monitor and have a hard time hearing your vocal, turn the backing track down, or simply adjust the mix between your vocal and the backing track using the knob to taste (it doesn't need to be in the "middle", there's presumably a whole range to let you mix the level between the direct signal, and the monitored signal accordingly), and turn your headphone level up.

Edited November 19, 2022 by des99