crackle when recording instruments

[billyboyo1]

Hi
im new to pro tools but ive got a few friends who have been using is for a while.
when i record any audio from either my keyboard plugged into a usb or a guitar straight into the DI it starts to crackle.
i thought at first it must be my guitar cable but it also does it with the usb powered keyboard too
any thoughts as to the cause of this?
also, when using the guitar through the amplitube plug in its very noisy. i tried turning us the gate and that killed it while i wasnt playing but as soon as i played the guitar there is a lot of fuzzy noise. strangely if i put my hand on the top of the M-box it stops the fuzzy noise but i cant keep a hand ontop of the mbox and play guitar. could this be something to do with the earth (ground)?
any help appreciated

im using pro tools 9 on a sony Vaio laptop with an m box mini and an m-audio oxygen49 keyboard.
cheers

[pierpy]

Yes, grounding problems. Try without power cable in your laptop..