I am hearing something that should be impossible

[Dolbydawg]

My normal system is PT LE 6.9 with an 002 Rack running on a dual-core G5 tower. Well, long story short, the G5 had to go into the shop, so I pulled in the computer from a different system, it is a single-core G5, but everything else is the same. I literally pulled all of the cables out of the dual-core and put them into the single-core, and somehow it sounds different.

The sound now has a hollow, lifeless quality, and it is much less warm. I am not the only person who has noticed, our other engineer noticed immediately, and even our vocal talent said something.

My question is this: if the A/D and the D/A converters haven't changed (nothing has been altered with the OO2, I just pulled the firewire cable out of one computer and plugged it into another), the software is the exact same as before, how could this be happening?

And what can I possibly do to fix it besides get the broken computer reapaired faster?

Many thanks,
Michael

[The Dougfather]

Sorry if this sounds silly but you haven't engaged the mono button have you?

Cheers

[Dolbydawg]

No, that isn't it, but thanks for the reply.

I'm ready to try just about anything at this point.

[Windshore]

It's not the computer.

Re-check all your audio connections. How about the sound of other audio aps like iTunes etc.? Are you running the same version of PT on both? - same prefs?

[gjohung]

something is out of phase.

[albee1952]

Sometimes TRS plugs can be not quite in all the way and that will reverse the polarity(the tip contacts the ring pad). I can't think of any logical reason the the computer to have the effect you describe. Simple check for polarity/phase; create a mono aux and insert the signal generator at 100Hz sine wave. Pan from left to right. Center should be louder than either side. If not, polarity is out somewhere.

[Dolbydawg]

Thanks --

iTunes and Quicktime sound as they used to, but their output is from the Mac, not the 002.

[Dolbydawg]

Thanks Albee --

Simple check for polarity/phase; create a mono aux and insert the signal generator at 100Hz sine wave. Pan from left to right. Center should be louder than either side. If not, polarity is out somewhere.

I tried this, and the system performed properly, getting louder at center. While it does mean that the output is in phase, my input might not be. I will try some new cables, and possibly even swapping this computer with yet another Mac. Thanks for your help & I'll let you know how it goes.