How noisy is your Mbox 2 Mini?

[GoButtonGuy]

I picked up an Mbox 2 Mini earlier and noticed a background, but fairly loud oscillation from the interface. It didn't happen until I started PT. It's loud enough to be unacceptable to me. It's not in the cans output, doesn't go away when the mon mute is enabled and is only audible when PT is launched on the computer. When I quit PT, the noise disappears. If I set the interface as the output for the Mac audio system, no problem, nice and clean as long as PT isn't running at the time.


Mac Pro 2 GHz
2 GB RAM
10.4.8
LE 7.1.1
Event 20/20 B.A.S.

Dave

[carlg1212]

It's most likely 60Hz hum, the bane of our existence. The 60Hz hum could be from many things, such as a fan or refrigerator running, a bad ground, a noisy light in the room, etc. It can even happen from random electrons smacking into your headphones.

The pros spend the most time and money getting rid of noise issues relating to bad grounds. Sometimes, this means rewiring the electrical service in the recording studio.

There are software filters, but the best solution is to make sure your shizzle is grounded; touch your Mbox when you start PT, and if the noise goes away, it means you have a bad ground. There are many ways (some painful) to get a good ground.

[GoButtonGuy]

The pros spend the most time and money getting rid of noise issues relating to bad grounds. Sometimes, this means rewiring the electrical service in the recording studio.

Thanks for the response but it's not a ground loop. It's higher than 60 cycles, in the upper mids, not quite a pure single tone, but somewhere in the 2-3Khz range. My background is more than 25 years in high performance touring audio. I'm now on a high profile show on the Strip where we use a couple of well equipped HD rigs. This Mini is a private thing for me so I can dub video I shoot and do an occasional demo for friends and keep my chops up. I was going to get an 002 Rack but with the 003 reportedly around the corner I picked up the Mini to tide me over.

I've opened a ticket with Digi but at this point I'm inclined to think it's a defective interface or that's the quality of a low end interface.

Dave