| It's probably either a lack of headroom or a rather low compression threshold in the ART. But to prove it to yourself, try the exact same signal chain without the ART (just loop through from the PT output to the PT input). I bet you'll find that the PT hardware is just fine.
If the ART Pro VLA is your favorite cheap piece of gear, I'm going out on a limb and guessing you like the way it sounds. If one of the things it does it to make the waveform asymmetrical, then I might further guess you like that as well. If this is the case, then you can quit worrying about what it looks like and get back to thinking about what it sounds like.
The visualization of the waveform offered by the DAW can be a helpful tool. For example, if there's a bunch of DC offset for some reason, that will limit your signal headroom. That would be something to fix. But if the distortion in your favorite analog gear causes the waveform to look different than you expect it to, that isn't really something that needs to be fixed. Remember, your goal is to make pretty sounds, not pretty pictures. |