? Possibly related to wack, unshielded monitors

I have an M-Audio USB interface that i use as the median for recording my MPC (actually my whole Eurorack) into my PC.... i have some shitty-ass radio-shack-ass monitors. Anyway, when i go to record into Acid 3.0, i get this low electronic feedback type sound that registers on the recording meter. What i have noticed, however, is that the sound changes and squelches and sh*t when my computer loads, or the hardrive is working. And it gets progressively worse the longer i record. Is this caused by my unshielded monitors? Or perhaps some sort of radio frequency emitted by laptop? WTF? Help a bruva out, i've been dealing with this sh!t for years. I suppose i need new monitors regardless, but if anyone has a temporary fix, i would HELLA appreciate it.

Peas and thanks in advance for any feedback

i got problems with noise too. for me it comes from having too many things plugged into each other at once. i run a bunch of stuff through a vestax mixer and i have found i get a terrible hum when i have the mpc and my pc running into it at the same time - its like the resistance changes or somthing. the quick fix is just to unpug one or the other when im recording but thats rather annoying and makes it tough to do certain things and the mixers supposed to handle it. but it used to be that way in my last couple mixers when i filled up all the ins and outs so i cant say im surprisded.

in your situation it could be any number of things. could be something not shielded right. something not grounding right (are your outlets and electrical in your house tight? - mines pretty messed up - i can hear cell phone calls coming in through my speakers before my phone rings!). it could be wires interfering with each other...do you have a big pile of cables going hither and thither? apparently electrical cables can mess with signal in audio cables if they are too close. supposedly if they have to be near each other or cross they should cross at right angles so the fields dont interact as much. once you have a bunch of electrical gear hooked up it seems like your always fighting a hum somewhere. and i even feel like acid itself doesnt record very well - i always feel like it weakens sounds somehow but that might just be me.

anyhow, eliminating organizing and jiggling wires might help. even go around touching various metal parts of your setup and see if any of those touches alters the hum - that might isolate where its coming from and you could pull that out of the system when you record. theres also little ground loop eliminator boxes you can get that might work. ibut if youre just running the mpc-mbox-comp with nothing else in the line i dont know how much this would help....but it cant hurt i suppose.

Word. Good look.

Yeah, i'm running more than said equipment, but it's all channeled through a Behringer mixer. MPC, Condensor Mic, Digital Piano, Two turntables and a mixer on one channel, etc...

Thats a good idea to see if i can alter the hum and isolate the source. Ima try that. Word.

My Humming noise comes only from my compressor... Could be it's placement (Right next to my computer and all my equipment with tangled wires)... My solution is that my compressor also has a Gate... I use the theshold at the noise level... and it cuts out all background hum in between my drums and sh*t...

It's temporary, but it works...

heres a good article 25 tips on reducing noise

http://members.tripod.com/~TroyWoodfield/noise.html

and if you havent been to that site before the rest of its no joke neither

http://members.tripod.com/~TroyWoodfield/akai.html

Sounds like a crappy consumer SoundBlaster audio card.

mpc3000 wrote:Sounds like a crappy consumer SoundBlaster audio card.

Um no. I just said i'm running an M-Audio Audiophile USB interface. Not my laptop's shitty soundcard.

Not that the M-Audio is the best, but i doubt thats the problem.

Check your gain structure and try to keep the gain on the audio card low and on your sources high. Also, mute the channels on your mixer while it is happening and see what affects it. Also turn doen the mixer's master to see if it is the mixer itself.

Sounds like radio interference in one way, and crossed audio cables in the other, good luck.

I get really bad static if I have my computer or the backup drive on my computer plugged into the same outlet as my MPC. Try plugging ish into different outlets if at all possible so the frequencies don't interfere

Ha. I fixed it. It was the power supply for my laptop. I unplugged it and record on battery power. Super quiet now.

Do'h.

Sounds familiar. I had the same thing last year. try to use as many different wallsockets as possible.
I ended up rewiring the whole room. I decided it would work better if i stole some electriciy from my neighbours appartment
No more hums, and i can leave my shit on 24/7 now.

mute all the other sound devces in the windows mixer. i.e... cd, aux, sw synth. etc etc. they all make noise in my experience.