*NEWBIE* Static White Noise Pro Tools 8 Digi 003

[Sergio Mendoza]

i conected my Digi 003 and M-Audio Octane together via a Optical cable. Created a session, both 003 and octane are at 48hz.
I created a track and selected analog input 1 and the mic connectedit works perfect! THEN I SELECT ADAT 1 and i get a really load static white noise that peaks my meter! if i speak into the mic you can bearly hear my voice over the static? Can anyone PLEASE help me! thank you...

I'M RUNNING:
DIGI-003
M-Audio Octane
Pro-Tools LE 8.05

***Dell - Inspiron***
Processor Brand Intel®
Processor Intel® 2nd Generation Core™ i3
Processor Speed 3.3GHz
Cache Memory 3MB
System Memory (RAM) 6GB
Hard Drive Type SATA (7200 rpm)
Hard Drive Size 1TB
Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 2000
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium
System Version 64-bit

[albee1952]

Go to setup>Hardware and select your clock source to ADAT. When connecting digital signals, there must be one master clock(or you get just what you are getting)

[Sergio Mendoza]

Thanks albee1952, I tried that and it is still giving me the static..any other suggestions? Thanks again!

[albee1952]

Check all your connections. Make sure your mic is using a straight xlr to xlr cable. Create a new session and start fresh(in case the session with the noise is corrupted).

[Sergio Mendoza]

I checked all the connections(optical,FireWire,xlr) and they seem to be fine. I also created several new sessions with different sample and bit rates but i still get the static.. When I record with Analog 1-8 it works fine, it's when I use Adat 1-8 that gives me the static almost pink noise kinda sound.. Could my optical cable be bad? I was using it on a digi 001 and the same Octane and it worked with no problems...I don't know what else it could be!! Haha , thanks again!!"

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Sergio Mendoza

I checked all the connections(optical,FireWire,xlr) and they seem to be fine. I also created several new sessions with different sample and bit rates but i still get the static.. When I record with Analog 1-8 it works fine, it's when I use Adat 1-8 that gives me the static almost pink noise kinda sound.. Could my optical cable be bad? I was using it on a digi 001 and the same Octane and it worked with no problems...I don't know what else it could be!! Haha , thanks again!!"

Certainly worth a try. Those little plastic connectors are crap, so maybe its not seated at one end. When you change the clock source to ADAT, does it stick(IOW, if you close that window and then come back to it, is ADAT still selected)? If not(and it reverted to Internal) that would indicate a bad connection. Remember that lightpipe is only good for 44.1 and 48K with 001/002/003.

[Sergio Mendoza]

Thats the thing, the clock does stay on Adat, which makes me doubt the cable is bad...I tried 44.1 and 48 and theres no difference.. I might switch out the optical anyways..correct me if I'm wrong but I think I read that I have to pay to get support from Avid??

[albee1952]

Time for more info then. Start with a Sandra report as described in this thread: Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!
Then be aware that, in general, Dell's are a crapshoot for comparability, integrated graphics(which you have) is often a show stopper with Pro Tools, and you need a separate 7200 rpm hard drive for recording(not your C: drive and not a partition of it).

[Sergio Mendoza]

Sandra Report :
SiSoftware Sandra
-----------------------------------------------------
ID
Host Name : Sergio Mendoza-PC
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : Dell Inspiron 620 To be filled by O.E.M.
Serial Number : 3SF7MS1
Chassis : Dell Desktop
Mainboard : Dell 0GDG8Y
Serial Number : ..CN7016322D0460.
BIOS : Dell A04 11/21/2011
Total Memory : 5.92GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz (2C 4T 3.3GHz, 3.3GHz IMC, 2x 256kB L2, 3MB L3)

Chipset
Memory Controller : Dell Core (Sandy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 3GB DIMM DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Hynix (Hyundai) HMT351U6CFR8C-H9 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Kingston K1N7HK-ELC 2GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (6 SM4.1 850MHz/1.1GHz, 64MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (6 SM4.1 850MHz/1.1GHz, 64MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
Compute Shader Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (6SP 850MHz/1.1GHz, 64MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (C:)
Generic- Multi-Card (USB2) : N/A (E:)
TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW SH-216BB (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
RECOVERY : 15GB (NTFS)
OS (C:) : 917GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000524AS (1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Removable Drive (E:) : N/A @ Generic- Multi-Card (USB2)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW SH-216BB (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Dell H61 LPC Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : SMSC SCH5514D-NS
Audio Device : Dell Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Disk Controller : Dell Cougar Point 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : Dell Cougar Point 2 port SATA IDE Controller
USB Controller 1 : Dell Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : Dell Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Avlab Technology XIO2200(A) IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Peripherals

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Dell Wireless 1502 802.11b/g/n (802.11n (HT), 150Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

[albee1952]

I see a few red flags here:
Integrated graphics-often a show stopper with Pro Tools
mis-matched RAM sticks-I always use matched RAM
I only see a single hard drive-you need to record to a separate 7200 rpm drive and NOT firewire for a Windows 7 system
Wifi(802.11) needs to be disabled when running Pro Tools

Since its a laptop, there's nothing you can do about the graphics, other than try fixing the other issues and keep fingers crossed. You should start with a good USB2 external recording drive(buy a generic case and pop in a WD Caviar BLACK drive) and turn OFF the wifi and see what happens. If its still fubar, try pulling the 2GB stick of RAM. If that seems to help, replace it with a matching 4GB stick from Hynix. Also, since you're new to this, I would review all the system tweaks too