Crickets in my system!

[Alécio Costa]

FRIENDS! I also had the same "sound of a mouse eating cheese" on my system twice in the past. It is related to grounding. Besides, if you apply too much gain in your mic preamp/console, the noise becomes even more noticeable. Intereting is that it did not go to the recording sometimes. Just remanage the cables and AC.

[flymax]

I had a similar problem that came from my underground dog fence signal being picked up by unbalanced cables. Man was that a puzzle 'till I figured it out.

[jjgaravito]

I have done the following troubleshooting to my system:
1. Checked all grounding with all relevant devices (and walls.)
2. Reinstalled Pro Tools
3. Removed all "unnecessary" devices from chain (SCSI card, SCSI Hard Drives)

I am still getting the "chk....chk....chk...." sound at a very steady pace (approximately every 1.5 sec.) when the 192 is set to either 176.4 or 192k. (I can't tell whether or not it is a little faster at 192.) The regularity of the signal seems to imply a clock issue, but I don't know too much about these things.

The following is a summary of my reduced system and the way its connected:

Mac G4/450 w/ system 9.2.2
3 PCI Slots (HD1 card, 2 empty)
1 AGP Slot (ATI Rage 128)
1G RAM,
20G ATA drive (came with computer)
Pro Tools 5.3 (came with HD)
192 I/O (connected to HD1 card)
Monster DB25-XLR connected to speakers
Monster AES/EBU connected to Panasonic SV-3700 DAT
All power to a Furman PL-Plus connected to a Panamax surge protector, to the wall.

Regardless of whether I monitor from the speakers or from headphones connected to my DAT, I get the same "chk....chk....chk..." at the 176.4 and 192 settings.

Any more ideas?

[Mark Haliday]

>>>Procontrol is sending the signal from the 888 to amps.<<<

Pro Control is no easy customer as far as experimenting with grounding is concerned, notably because of the sub 25 in/outs connectors.
One thing you could do is try to bypass the Pro Control (888->AMP) , providing you have some means to attenuate the signal before amplification. (volume controls on your amp or equivalent) : Careful with high levels! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

I would also add to some of the excellent advice in the last messages that you shouold check the quality of your cables and that your sub 25 cables have *high* quality shielding.
I am about 90% sure this is a ground loop problem. But who knows with computer gremlins, I may be 99,99% wrong...

Mark

Good luck

[Steve MacMillan]

I'm sure this is not your problem, but the Bombfactory Moogerfoogers can occasionally bug out and start chirping like a cricket.

sm