Digital Buzz in Analog Recordings PLEASE help!!

Hi Robin,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for commenting.

I would caution against recommending adapters which lift mains earth, though, in the absence of further information or, at least, warnings.
They can be very useful for troubleshooting or proving something but earth is there for a reason and lifting it permanently or without good reason or full understanding can be very dangerous.
 
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The three-prong is a pain. Great idea in some ways. 10s of quadrillions of people died every year, possibly, a few even needlessly, from 2-prong systems before the great discovery.

There has been some talk on how to manage Prong Music online, so one needn't resort to two prong mindsets. if I remember, the basic premise is that devices no longer know where ground is when you span the audio chain across outlet strips, etc..

I have a Prong CD here, somewhere
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hi Robin,
Welcome to the forum and thanks for commenting.

I would caution against recommending adapters which lift mains earth, though, in the absence of further information or, at least, warnings.
They can be very useful for troubleshooting or proving something but earth is there for a reason and lifting it permanently or without good reason or full understanding can be very dangerous.
Click to expand...

+ 1 with diamond encrusted knobs on! I do understand that our '115 volt friends' are a little more cavalier about mains electricity but as low as 35 volts of AC can kill! Less in certain circumstances.

Electrical safety works on layers of improbabilities (as does gun safety but I shall say no more there!) It is very unlikely that a metal chassis/mic body/guitar string will become live but IF it did the earth is there to ensure the current is diverted to earth and trips a breaker.

Thus, 3 pole to two pole adaptor is STUPID and anyone selling such a thing over here would be locked up.

'ground/earth/hum' loops are NOTHING to do with 'static'! That is what you get when you stroke a cat sometimes! The hum is caused by having two or more earth paths. A very common scenario is the (earthed) computer feeding powered monitors. Almost all the latter use an IEC 3pin main input* and therefore are also earthed at the mains outlet. Then you connect via screened cable, often balanced and a hum current is now established in the audio and earth cables. The input amps in the speakers are 'satup' on the voltage that is the result of the hum current, ergo, Hmmmm!

The ONLY safe way to deal with this is to break the AUDIO earth path with transformers or special cables with the shield disconnected one end, though the latter can cause other issues. (BTW, The only other time I heard the word 'static' is in crappy old B sci fi movies on channel 70!)

*Although a few makers are now using 'Class ll' insulated earth free techniques but this can lead to hum problems in itself!

Dave.
 
"Well, the odds have been calculated through the years and they are pretty low. Increasing, somewhat, with a electrocution : )





I'm guessing around 1967, Sue Shields was going to vacuum her car interior after washing it inside a Auto Garage at a gas station. She was barefoot on the concrete and standing in a puddle of water"

Did the above get deleted? Anyway, wanted to say, an RCD would have saved her life. Did her folks sue the garage?

Dave.
 
You know it is not easy to kill a man by electrocution, over here. Should be some stories from Texas

No, I was standing by the overhead garage door, so the outlets and light switches were right there when I saw she was just shaking immobile with the metal hose in her hand. One of those sausage shaped metal aerodynamic canister vacuums. Being a young brat, it seemed I needed to be airborne when I yanked the plug out of the wall. hahah
 
Hey, OP, did you try using a different brand interface? Is that a first generation Scarlett? I ask because I had a very similar problem with the 18i8. Tried switching to another new one, (I'm using a laptop with Windows 8), checked and rechecked grounds, etc. Everything. It's the Scarlett. Or perhaps it's better to say it's the drivers. I just used it again last week, and there was digital noise all over. I upgraded to the 2nd gen 18i20, both at home and at the practice space, and all is well.
 
TimOD said:
Hey, OP, did you try using a different brand interface? Is that a first generation Scarlett? I ask because I had a very similar problem with the 18i8. Tried switching to another new one, (I'm using a laptop with Windows 8), checked and rechecked grounds, etc. Everything. It's the Scarlett. Or perhaps it's better to say it's the drivers. I just used it again last week, and there was digital noise all over. I upgraded to the 2nd gen 18i20, both at home and at the practice space, and all is well.
Click to expand...

If that is the case Tim Focusrite should be aware? We used to have a tame F'rite guy contribute? He seemed an alright, honest chap, maybe TOO honest?!
Could be a firmware update but don't hold yer breath.

Dave.
 
From what I gather reading a post at Magix' site, a poster there said that it was an issue, that the drivers were crap, and I believe him. They know this. My God, I've had nothing but trouble with my 18i8's. The 2nd gen 18i20's I have are fine, except that the buffer size switches back to (apparently) the default of 128, and this causes thousands of errors in Pro X2. I have to watch this when I hit record when the session starts. Weird. Those things have really good mic pres and sound great (great cost value too), which is why I've given Focusrite a second chance. I think the whole 2nd gen thing has a lot to do with the buggy drivers in the 1st gen. I'm guessing that Focusrite would not want to publicize that. Anybody else out there having trouble with 1st gen Focusrite Scarlett products?
 
Tim, there should be a way in Pro X to make IT take control of the interface and lock it to whatever sample rate you set IN Pro X.

I know I have seen this in Sam SE 8 but could not find it the other day. Bloody sure it is there!

Dave.
 
That's not the issue--the sample rate certainly locks in in ProX, but oftentimes, at the beginning of a session, the buffers revert to 128 samples (the lowest setting). This causes huge buffer errors. (in a 2 hour session, thousands!) I stop the session, change the setting back to where it was (1024--the highest setting), and should stay, and that's it. It's an annoyance, and it certainly never happens with my old E-mu card, still running 7 years on. Like I said though, the 2nd gen works great outside of that. And I should mention that the GUI in the 2nd gen is much better than the confusing one in the 1st gen.
 
Sample rate lock is usually a drivers thing. I have the devil to pay going from 44 to 384, or, back
 
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