Noisey high freq buzz coming thru monitors from M-Audio 410

[SixChurchStreet]

I have been using LE and a 001 since about 1999/2000 with my Alesis power amp. Everything was always very clear sounding, and never had any noise from my speakers.

I recently installed PT7.4 and an M-Audio 410. There is a slight buzzing high frequency noise that comes from the speakers. I think I've heard this before on other people's systems using firewire interfaces. Is this normal? Do other people who use 410s (and maybe 1814s) have that slight high freq buzz? like digital noise. It's especially apparent when no music is playing thru the monitors, kinda gives you a headache if there isn't other noise in the room to drown it out.

Kip

[TechKnowledgy]

Are you double powering the interface (6pin bus power + AC Power Adapter)? That can cause some strange noises and problems.

[SixChurchStreet]

Nope, only powering from the firewire cable. Doing some research online some indicators have pointed to an IRQ sharing conflict, and one person posted that plain old physical proximity between the video card and firewire port or audio card have caused interference.

I don't believe I have an IRQ issue. I am pretty good about checking on that stuff after a new OS install (just re-installed XP a week or so ago). I don't remember seeing any conflict or shared IRQ, but I'll definitely look again.

kip

[nonexistence]

I've got the same problem using an M-audio 1010 interface. I suspect it has something to do with the graphicscard, but I have no idea, planning to switch the geforce card to a matrox to see if the problem persists. I'm using balanced cables so the problem is not there.

I suspect that your problem may be that the 410 doesn't have balanced outputs and there for the noise.

[SixChurchStreet]

I've got the same problem using an M-audio 1010 interface. I suspect it has something to do with the graphicscard, but I have no idea, planning to switch the geforce card to a matrox to see if the problem persists. I'm using balanced cables so the problem is not there.

I suspect that your problem may be that the 410 doesn't have balanced outputs and there for the noise.

Since posting this, I've gotten an 1814 because I wanted more inputs, and the noise problem is still there. It's good though because now I can take the "bad M-Audio unit" possibility out of the equation.

I've googled like crazy on this to see what I could come up with. After finding some random post on a message board and a link to some Apple archive about ground loops and computer audio, I read that this person used a simple ground loop isolator to solve the problem. Like this...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...rt&tab=summary

and it apparently worked for him. If you read the product reviews on that Radio Shack page, some people mentioned putting it between their computer and mixer and/or amp and it solved there problems too. I am going to try out this inexpensive option and see how it goes.

I'll post back and let you all know if it worked!

[SixChurchStreet]

SOLVED...

To anyone getting that high frequency / digital sounding / buzzing. The type where you can hear mouse movements, cpu processing, etc... This is exactly what I got ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN:IT&ih=017

I simply put it between my M-Audio 1814's outs and my Alesis RA100 power amp's ins.

Problem solved. It's quiet as anything now. Buffer is at 128 and I have no noise.

For $12 after shipping, this is the cheapest fix to a very annoying problem. Any questions, message me.

- Kip

[jrummer]

I've had this issue for a long time on both my dual 2.0 G5 and my xp machine. I do not have the issue on my macbook, which leads me to think its some sort of power cycle issue. I always use a power conditioner but perhaps its not good enough or needs more features. I have searched hi and low to find a solution to this issue with very little luck. My work around is record to my laptop and mix/edit on my G5.

The ebay link in the previous post is no longer valid. I assume its a ground loop thing....any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[SixChurchStreet]

This is basically what I got...

http://cgi.ebay.com/GROUND-LOOP-ISOL...|39:1|240:1318.

BUT... I no longer use it.
Though these cheapo little devices sure as heck fix the noise issue, you do take a little hit in your playback quality. It's hard to place, but it's like a little bit of the hi-end gets swallowed up. It's definitely minor, but with all the time and energy we put into getting the best mics, pres, converters, interfaces, etc, it didn't make sense to make this kind of compromise to my sound. It may not bother everyone, and if not, by all means use this device because it WORKS.

SO, I also found that if everything, and I mean everything in your setup is plugged into the same socket (not just the same outlet - there are two sockets on home outlets, only use one, leave the other one empty), the very same socket on the wall, this also eliminated my noise issues.
Make sure all audio gear, all computer gear is connected to that same wall socket.

I have one 6 plug surge protector plugged into the wall, and I plug all my rack power conditioners into that surge protector. (I have three rack conditioners). No noise.

[Kevin Windrem]

Sounds like a ground loop. I get this using a Fast Track Ultra on my laptop which has a grounded power supply and any inputs or outputs to the Ultra go to grounded equipment. I've had similar problems with other interfaces.

Some interfaces have a switch to select power source (USB/FireWire vs external lump). If If so, powering the interface externally could clean things up.

The reason the Radio Shack and eBay ground isolators solve the problem is that it breaks the ground path to the power amp, but as soon as you connect an input or output of the interface to a grounded device you may again have problems.

In my case I needed to ground lift the laptop's AC power plug. But that's a safety issue.

[waxmastawes]

Hey there, Im about to buy one of those GROUND LOOP ISOLATORs off ebay that you listed... I was just wondering how will I connect this? I have my main 1/4" outs from my m-audio 1814 going directly into my powered m-audio studiophile BX8 monitors... and the isolator seems like it has weird outs/ins... they are definately 1/8" jacks... so how would this work? thanks in advance