Softube Spring Reverb and Tube Delay

[challism]

Am I doing something wrong with these 2 REs?  I can't get them to do anything that sounds good.  The biggest issue I am having, is that they pretty much kill all the volume of the channel, when enabled.  This seems very bizarre.  The signal drops to an almost inaudible level whenever I put one of these devices in the chain.  So it's hard to get anything to sound good, if you can't even hear it.
I've seen a bunch of posts raving about these REs, but I'm not feeling it.  So, do you guys have any tips or advice?

[miahluvdd]

Are you running them as a send effect from the mixer? Try that.

[challism]

No, I haven't been.  Thanks for the tip.  I tried that today, and it fixed the volume issue.  At least when these fx are enabled, the signal volume isn't being killed. 
But these are basically guitar-inspired effects, which would more naturally be used as direct fx in the signal chain, not a send fx.  Are you saying these are better used as send fx?  If so, that is a big surprise to me, and it doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I'm still trying to find some love for these REs.

[ScuzzyEye]

When you're using them as an insert, are you adjusting the wet/dry amount? The only thing that should be different between an insert and a send that's receiving one channel, is how much of the original signal is present. With a 100% wet insert, none of the original will make it through, but with a 100% wet send, the original is still there, with the effect being mixed in.

[challism]

It's happening worse with the Tube Delay.  Even if I have the wet/dry knob all the way to the left (0% mix) = 100% dry, it kills the volume quite considerably.  Nobody else has noticed this?

You can see, even at 100% dry, the signal is affected (you can see it better on the Selig Gain display), while it shouldn't be affected AT ALL at 100% dry.  I have attached some screen shots to show how it kills the sound:

Bypassed

 


Dry 100%

   

Wet 100%

[ScuzzyEye]

It's happening worse with the Tube Delay.  Even if I have the wet/dry knob all the way to the left (0% mix) = 100% dry, it kills the volume quite considerably.  Nobody else has noticed this?
You can see, even at 100% dry, the signal is affected (you can see it better on the Selig Gain display), while it shouldn't be affected AT ALL at 100% dry.  I have attached some screen shots to show how it kills the sound:

Oh, I do remember someone pointing this out before. Apparently it is by design. The dry signal isn't simply a bypass, but still affected by the "tube" circuitry. This can be offset some with the Drive parameter. Good that you have Gain, so you can adjust the output (or input) level as needed. (In fact one of the things that prompted Giles to make Gain was another Softube device. The Saturation Knob boosts levels.)

[challism]

It's quite annoying that it is muting the signal.  What's the deal with Softube and their volume problems?  Saturation Knob's volume issue is also quite annoying, though it's hard to make any serious complaints about a free RE. 

[dvdrtldg]

Softube Tube Delay is a weird one in many respects. Setting tempo sync in particular seems a little perverse, and the sound is fine but nothing special imo. I really tried to get to like this device, but in the end The Echo beats it hands down.

Really like Spring Reverb though. It's a one trick pony but does the job very well.

[miahluvdd]

I remember demoing the tube delay and complaining about this issue in the PUF and some said that it was by design - that it was meant to be a send effect. I own the spring but didn't get the delay for just that reason.