lobsterbodies
New member
Hi all,
I've owned a Lexicon Alpha audio interface for over a year now and have been generally satisfied with its performance. But I've lately noticed a strange problem that seems to happen under specific conditions and with differing manifestations. The short answer is that when in Cubase LE 5 (v5.1.1) or Audacity (v2.0.4), I can record just fine but when I go to play it back, if I route the output through the Alpha itself (so that I can monitor and play along with it) as opposed to through the default chipset, it produces a deafening roar of static that has a vague tonal resemblance to the original data. Playing through default chipset (i.e., my one shrimpy right-channel speaker or the headphone jack) yields A-OK audio.
Here are the varying circumstances:
1. In Cubase, as soon as I open the program (or more accurately, as soon as the VST output bus for the Alpha is established, as disabling the output removes this issue) the usual background noise one hears from the Alpha just from plugging in headphones while the thing is on is greatly amplified and takes on harsh overtones.mp
2. I can usually listen to audio from other sources (such as mp3s in Winamp or streaming video) via the playback/monitoring without issue, but the noise will occur sometimes here as well, seemingly as a result of a chain of events leading up to it that "prime" it for this event
3. I suspect it may have something to do with L/R/stereo channel separation (I am a newbie, sorry if that sounds painfully clueless), due to an effect I have been unable to reproduce. Once, in Audacity, I encountered the noise but was able to get it to go away by fiddling with the channels, i.e. splitting a stereo track in a particular fashion (the source audio I'd recorded was all on the L channel). I can't get it to do this again, however.
I'm running Windows XP sp3 / 1.4 GHz P4, Dell Dimension 4400 using Lexicon's Alpha 2.7 driver. Mobo chipset is "Intel 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller".
Thanks in advance for any help!
I've owned a Lexicon Alpha audio interface for over a year now and have been generally satisfied with its performance. But I've lately noticed a strange problem that seems to happen under specific conditions and with differing manifestations. The short answer is that when in Cubase LE 5 (v5.1.1) or Audacity (v2.0.4), I can record just fine but when I go to play it back, if I route the output through the Alpha itself (so that I can monitor and play along with it) as opposed to through the default chipset, it produces a deafening roar of static that has a vague tonal resemblance to the original data. Playing through default chipset (i.e., my one shrimpy right-channel speaker or the headphone jack) yields A-OK audio.
Here are the varying circumstances:
1. In Cubase, as soon as I open the program (or more accurately, as soon as the VST output bus for the Alpha is established, as disabling the output removes this issue) the usual background noise one hears from the Alpha just from plugging in headphones while the thing is on is greatly amplified and takes on harsh overtones.mp
2. I can usually listen to audio from other sources (such as mp3s in Winamp or streaming video) via the playback/monitoring without issue, but the noise will occur sometimes here as well, seemingly as a result of a chain of events leading up to it that "prime" it for this event
3. I suspect it may have something to do with L/R/stereo channel separation (I am a newbie, sorry if that sounds painfully clueless), due to an effect I have been unable to reproduce. Once, in Audacity, I encountered the noise but was able to get it to go away by fiddling with the channels, i.e. splitting a stereo track in a particular fashion (the source audio I'd recorded was all on the L channel). I can't get it to do this again, however.
I'm running Windows XP sp3 / 1.4 GHz P4, Dell Dimension 4400 using Lexicon's Alpha 2.7 driver. Mobo chipset is "Intel 82801BA/BAM AC'97 Audio Controller".
Thanks in advance for any help!
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