ok. so, it most definitely *can't* be a blown capacitor, because i can get it pretty good by running it through an eq that is undoing whatever is fucking it up. if i blew a transistor, that wouldn't work, it would just plateau somewhere. the fact that i'm not getting any kind of push back indicates the hardware is just fine.

but that's putting me up against a wall in figuring out "da fuck".

if it stabilizes as a flat signal, i can eventually conclude that i was mixing relative to an unclean signal and remix all of it. but i should be able to at least recreate what exists through the neutral card.

i'm going to try playing with the firewire cord. that's about all i have left to grasp to. there's 8 possibilities to try.