Request for info: Mbox/Mbox2 noise bursts

[DigiTechSupt]

Excuse me for insisting on this, but... are we STILL waiting for a solution?

As the posting dates about this issue on the MBOX 2 started last year, it looks like this problem has been around for some time... and I am not sure anymore if someone at Digi is really worried about my ears. I have tried different cables, different ports, and noise this is not something I can consider normal for a brand new product. I am being forced to work many wours each day with this terrible noise in the background, ALL the time.

Please, would someone tell me if a software fix will EVER see the light of day, or if I will have to throw this piece of plastic out of the window?

Still waiting for some answer, yours sincerely unhappy customer.

Thank you.

This is not related to defective hardware or software. Check the post above where I give possible solutions. We've investigated the whine problem and have determined that there is nothing inherently wrong with the Mbox 2.

[Jussi]

Well finally some advice. Thank you! Some of us customers may be a bunch of hobbyists mixing issues but that's not a reason not to react, ok?

My case (occasional white noise bursts when hitting the rec button on track) seems to have been solved by installing 10.4.9. combo update and 7.3.1cs3. No bursts after that, so far. Marvellous.

[Pedro Conforti]

I have finally solved the problem, after months of agony. But before explaining how, let me make something clear. You said:

3. Using balanced cables from the output of the Mbox 2 to your amp/speakers can also help.

But on the general troubleshooting page, the information is:

"If you're experiencing noise from the Mbox 2, there are several things to try:

- Remember that the Mbox 2 outputs are unbalanced, and should use unbalanced connections."

My output cables were UNBALANCED, because when I had a Digi 001 I had no noise at all. And when I've bought the MBox2, the noise appeared but the troubleshooting guide said clearly to use unbalanced cables. I've tried everything else for months, with no luck.

But yesterday, after reading you say the opposite, I've changed the cables for balanced one, and the whine has completely gone.

So, why do both informations are given here as the solution?

Thank you,

Pedro

[Justin Brandt]

Running:

Macbook Pro 2.4 Core Duo
OS 10.4.11
2Gb ram
Mbox (original) V0.22 in left USB (or right USB - it doesn't matter)
PT 7.1.1
No external drives connected, just the internal SATA 160GB
Have tried connecting a drive though, and it doesn't change anything.


I am getting noise in my left channel only. There is a consistent medium loud noise sound with spurts of really loud noise and sometimes clicks. It doesn't matter where the volume knob is or if I am using the front or rear headphone jack. It happens with Core Audio and PT and without any audio software open at all. It's independent of what I'm doing on the computer. I'm using a grounded power supply, and it has the same issue at different locations and with/without the power hooked up. Tried different USB cables. The internal built in audio of the computer doesn't do this. Updated the firmware to version .22 to no avail.

Thanks for any help you can give!!!

Justin


Just discovered that it only occurs through the headphone jacks and not the line outs... faulty headphone amp?

[robertnorris]

Running:

Mbox2 (USB)
iMac OS X 10.5.1
2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM


I had been having a fairly smooth experience with the Mbox2 for the last 6 months or ever since I stopped using Pro Tools. However recently, whenever I plug in my condenser Mic and turn on the Phantom power - its like I'm out in a windy location and breezes are rushing into the Mic.

This problem I don't get with the stage mics. Just on the 48v. I have yet to try a Monster USB Cable.

If you listen to this sound , you'll get an idea for what I mean.

I do experience now and then moments of noiseless recording via this mic. When problematic (which lately is all the time), changing the USB port I plug into makes no difference. Plugging the mic into input 1 or 2 also makes no difference. I have also done every tweak possible in the suggested guides. Just now and then, for some undetermined amount of time I cannot use the mbox because of this. I am doubtful now this setup is for me but I am an optimist and developer myself so know there can be fixes made with enough patience.

Thanks for your help.

Kind regards,

Robert Norris

p.s. I also can only test via regular headphone jack. Problem exists on headphones and headphone ported amp.

[silvereye]

DJ Decryption wrote:
>"I know this is the Mac thread, so this solution may not be helpful for everyone if it is the Magsafe power cable that's causing it... but this fixed my whine with the Mbox2 Mini on my PC
laptop. It turns out that there's a feedback loop between the Mbox outputs, the external amplifier (which is hooked up to monitor speakers), the computer, and then back to the Mbox via the USB cable. Unplugging my soundcard audio out cable from my computer stops the whine... ostensibly because it stops the loop."


Thanks for this advice. This fixed the high pitched whine i had when using Protools LE (windows) with M-box 2 mini. My internal pc soundcard was plugged into the same monitors that i was using for my Mbox2 mini. This created a loop, even though they were plugged into different inputs in the pre-amp. As soon as i unplugged the cables from my pc soundcard to my monitors, the high pitch sound stopped !

Thanks again DJ Decrypytion.

Silvereye

[aaronson]

Has there every been an update to the Mbox 2 firmware to fix this problem? I only see firmware for the original mbox. I am experiencing this problem on my mbox 2 since upgrading to PT8.

[SEsound]

- Macbook Pro 17" (2006)
- 2 CPU
- 2.16Ghz
- 2GB ram
- Mac OS X 10.5.5
- Pro Tools LE 7.4.2
- Mbox2
- connected to left USB port (if looking at laptop from the front)
- Internal SATA HDD 120GB for system files and pro tools install, 250GB LaCie d2 via FW 800 for recording.
- White noise has occurred when trying to record one or two channels via the mic preamps onboard. PT only records (and monitors) this steady noise and nothing but it, and computer must be restarted with Mbox2 unplugged and then replugged in to alleviate the problem. It first happened with 7.3.1 installed more than a year ago, but just happened again recently with the 7.4.2/10.5.5 setup. This has been a VERY intermittent problem - maybe only 10 occurrences within the last year.

I have not had this problem with any playback or coreaudio use outside PT. I do, however, have serious problems with the coreaudio driver causing crashes, as detailed @ http://duc.digidesign.com/showthread.php?t=194592

[lostinlondon]

Hi

This is new one for me.

I have a Mbox 2 Pro/macbook Pro 2gb ram/PT 8.0.1

Running Glyph audio firewire drive.

I am getting this odd white noise during playback. Very strange. Making recordings useless.

Is there some kind of fix to this ? ??

Looking this thread there is NOT

[tonyromeo]

When recording the wavefor shows everyting it's ok, the sound reproduces fine, but when play, the noise is sounding very hard and no music is reproduced.
Thaks
Tony