actually, it could be that it's clipping due to the sample rate. just, empirically: i've never had bass clip when recording to tape, which takes a continuous signal. it could be clipping as certain low frequencies with long waveforms get cut in the sampling, which may be more pronounced through asio than through whatever my soundblaster is using.

it doesn't clip on monitor, only in record, telling me it's something to do with the capture.

i stick with cd quality when i'm recording. i know there's a lot of people that will argue against that - they say to use 24/48K as the standard. there's no technical reason i don't do this. it's just that i want to mix it the way i'm going to hear it. i've experimented with it a bit, and i find that that extra bit of "headroom" is just fucking up the mix because when i eventually mix it down to 16/44 there's aspects of the reverb and whatnot that don't sound as pronounced. i'd rather spend the time mixing it the way i want it to sound at the quality level people will listen to it at, which might mean turning the effects up a bit more or doubling them or whatever.

but one solution to this may be to take the bass in at like 192 and then downsample.

i have the battery, i'm going to replace it now and i'll let you know what i end up doing. i know this is a solvable problem, it's just a question of getting the answer.