Omni Fans?

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Will do, guess now I have a quest

I think I beat you to it. I actually picked up a variety of brands that state 11-14 dB. So going to test them out this weekend. Wish I had a SPL meter that would go that low to get a true reading, since even if they are let's say 11 dB, a few running at the same time would be nice to see it's level compared to the OMNI or the Mac, but all SPL's go as low as 30 dB. The ones that go lower are in the thousands $$$

[saggsy]

I guess you could just hold your meter closer to the sound source. cause i imagine that meter would be minimum reading of 30db at one meter.

if the meter is right butt up to the fan then could you not perform some type of maths equation to account for the less distance to the source e.g with the spl meter at 1m away from the source is not reading anything. move the meter right up close to the source and it should give a reading? then work out what the 'true' db is by working out how quickly and by how much the sound is supposed to 'die off' over the distance of a meter.

I know long winded way of doing things, but could save thousands on a really sensitive meter :)

[Slim Shady]

Loving my new Omni, just got one and PTHD Native a few days ago, both are great additions to the PT line. Yes, the fan in the Omni is noticeable, but we're not talking Windtunnel G4 levels or anything here. Probably loud enough to deter recording an acoustic guitar or quiet vocal while in the same room with it, but really not that much louder than the fan noise of my Mac Pro.

[JoeM]

Originally Posted by Slim Shady

Loving my new Omni, just got one and PTHD Native a few days ago, both are great additions to the PT line. Yes, the fan in the Omni is noticeable, but we're not talking Windtunnel G4 levels or anything here. Probably loud enough to deter recording an acoustic guitar or quiet vocal while in the same room with it, but really not that much louder than the fan noise of my Mac Pro.

I intended to purchase a native card and omni last week to replace my old 001 until I found this thread. My recording space is a room about 7x12 and it's intended for recording myself in a typical acoustic singer/songwriter scenario. I just purchased a Mac Pro 8 core 2.26 which is pretty quiet so I thought I was set but if as you say the noise level is loud enough to leak into a mic during soft performances and be noticeable it would be a deal killer for me.

Would putting up a small gobo or baffle near the omni be enough to reduce the SPL to a tolerable level if you were about 3 to 4 ft away from the unit, in your opinion?

Also, if I decide to bypass the omni and just get the native card could you suggest an I/O that might be substituted for it? A buddy suggested the Mytek 8X192 but I wasn't very happy with the seemingly thin sound quality I heard in the samples posted on their site.

Thanks for any help and suggestions!

[Slim Shady]

Originally Posted by JoeM

Would putting up a small gobo or baffle near the omni be enough to reduce the SPL to a tolerable level if you were about 3 to 4 ft away from the unit, in your opinion?

I left my Omni on all day while I was doing backups and some other work to get the fans going, and just took some readings.

SPL at front of the Omni w/fan going: 61db

SPL at front of Mac Pro: 50db

SPL 4 feet away from my rig (has both the Mac Pro and Omni in it): 55db

I don't think a baffle or gobo near the Omni would really help much, as it's pretty non-directional noise, but maybe a little. You could easily stick it in an iso-rack type of enclosure though, which you should probably be considering anyway if you're going to be tracking in the same room as your Mac Pro.

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by Slim Shady

I left my Omni on all day while I was doing backups and some other work to get the fans going, and just took some readings.

SPL at front of the Omni w/fan going: 61db

SPL at front of Mac Pro: 50db

SPL 4 feet away from my rig (has both the Mac Pro and Omni in it): 55db

I don't think a baffle or gobo near the Omni would really help much, as it's pretty non-directional noise, but maybe a little. You could easily stick it in an iso-rack type of enclosure though, which you should probably be considering anyway if you're going to be tracking in the same room as your Mac Pro.

WOW!
That's about 41dB too high!

I wonder how this will be remedied?
Maybe a remote control?
Since the functions on it are needed to be with in hands reach for using the 5.1 volume, checing alt mix, headphone, headphoen volume, setting mic levels, mutting, changing settings when protools is not launched, etc.

[JoeM]

Originally Posted by Slim Shady

I left my Omni on all day while I was doing backups and some other work to get the fans going, and just took some readings.

SPL at front of the Omni w/fan going: 61db

SPL at front of Mac Pro: 50db

SPL 4 feet away from my rig (has both the Mac Pro and Omni in it): 55db

I don't think a baffle or gobo near the Omni would really help much, as it's pretty non-directional noise, but maybe a little. You could easily stick it in an iso-rack type of enclosure though, which you should probably be considering anyway if you're going to be tracking in the same room as your Mac Pro.

Wow, that's too bad, it looks like Digi made a serious design blunder in an otherwise great little I/O. Looks like no Omni for me then. I can't see an iso rack really solving the problem as you need to have the Omni near you to use the monitoring features. I've also read that those cabinets can cause a number of other problems for the components that are housed in them. Plus I can't see spending near $1K for a rack as I've already got a custom made work station that set me back that much.

Thanks for your advice.

[Brandonx1]

Iso racks are more like 2.5k

[JoeM]

Originally Posted by Brandonx1

Iso racks are more like 2.5k

Yep, you are right, I was just pricing some at sweetwater. Didn't realize they ran that much.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by SDDP

I think I beat you to it. I actually picked up a variety of brands that state 11-14 dB. So going to test them out this weekend. Wish I had a SPL meter that would go that low to get a true reading, since even if they are let's say 11 dB, a few running at the same time would be nice to see it's level compared to the OMNI or the Mac, but all SPL's go as low as 30 dB. The ones that go lower are in the thousands $$$

Will be interested in your findings and actual brand/s you like . Kev