Noah random noise

[Nebukadneser]

I have previously explained problems with NOAH and its apparent sensitivity to grond loops. It sounds like it amplifies the internal activities of my lap top, such as when moving the mouse cursor. The review of NOAH in Electronic musician refers to a ticking sound reminiscent of a motorboat, if I remember correct.

Lately when working with the unit and LIVE 7, I came across another issue which is also discussed in the forum. After a while, all of a sudden the sound starts ticking and distorts. I have tried all buffersettings possible. The only difference is the time it takes for the error to occur.

This time it got it while mixing down (recording my midi arrangement to a muted audio track in Live) - a well paid project which is soon to be delivered to an event show ...

Listen and see if you can explain what happens - and preferably, what is the solution to this?

Neb

[alfonso]

Lift laptop's ground connection when connected to Noah.

[Nebukadneser]

Alfonso, it is not a ground loop issue this time. This sudden noise burst appears when I am working in my home studio and it is not similar to the constant hum caused by ground loops. The sound is not affected at all until these sudden changes. I have tried different settings on latency, buffer and number of recording channels. It has been stable for a long while now, and I will report back on which settings are most successful. I worked for 4 hours today mixing down a project and I had no problems, so I may consider the issuse solved.

Neb

[alfonso]

Ah, sorry I was just referring to the beginning of your post....didn't read carefully.

[alfonso]

The effect reminds me of a possible audio loop, somehow the output is routed to the input and on...are you sure that you aren't sending the monitored sound back to the mixer sum?

[Nebukadneser]

Alfonso,

You are right that it sounds like some sort of digital feedback, but it is not. I have checked and double checked again. I think what I am experiencing what Creamware discusses in the Readme file on the 1.1. update of the software:

"There is an associated setup dialog (to be found in the same place where you select the ASIO driver) under Windows, in which you can set the ASIO buffer size and the number of recording channels. A larger ASIO buffer size results in higher latency times. A larger buffer size is called for if you experience clicks and crackling during audio track playback. ‘Metallic-sounding’ distortion of audio tracks is likewise an indicator that the buffer size is set too low. The smallest value which will produce clean playback depends in large part upon the speed of your processor and is best determined by a bit of experimentation with different settings. Many current processors manage distortion-free playback with a setting of 128 samples (corresponding to a latency of 3-4 msec)."

In my case, I have solved it by not only adjusting the buffer settings, but also the number of playback and record chnnels.

Now the machine works like a charm as the host for Reason and Ableton Live and my E-mu Ultra sampler. I use the Midex 8 8x8 Midi adapter for my midi ins and outs - really a nice piece of utillity hardware!.

Neb

[spacef]

noise that comes and goes generally comes from a sync problem....
may be something in usb/asio, i don't know.


edit: ah, i didn't see you solved it already... asio buffers then...