are mboxes just sh*t???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steenamaroo
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Steenamaroo

Steenamaroo

...
more of a rant than a real question.....i'm not expecting much of an answer here but..


usually i work on a 003, and more often than not i use either an octopre, or some old preamps from console.

no hiss, no hum, just nice clean recording..


i bought an mbox 2, mostly so that i could mix protools sessions without a 003 (cos i'm goin to uni), but i also thought it'd be handy to be able to do stereo recordings in a nice room with my laptop..say acoustic singer/sonwriters etc?


turns out no!

so...if the laptop is on mains power, i get an overwhelming buzz,,,like...louder than the music..

unplug mains and it goes away...or does it?

i was testing with my oktavas that recently had the headbaskets modded, and after a while i realised that there was still a little very quiet buzz.

tested all the cables, turned off all the dimmers, blah blah......

final outcome was that it only happens with the oktavas, and touching the headbasket stops it...BUT GET THIS...
the oktavas don't display any buzz whatsoever on my desktop setup. and there is DEFINITELY continuity between the grilles and the chassis..i've made sure of it.


movin on,cos the buzz is quiet enough to be tolerable...in fact, you'd only really hear it if the preamps didn't sound like a pair of really pissed off rattle snakes.

the preamps have HUUUGE hiss..the headphone output has huge hiss...everything just hisses so....


i never thought an mbox 2 was gona be pro gear..i'm not stupid...but i did think i'd get away with tracking guitar on it or whatever..

i guess the question is,,,is this just a $400 toy?



i thought about just getting a line to digital converter and using my outboard pres with the digital in...but it seems like you have to spend real money to get one of those (i'm assuming the £30 jobs are useless??? any experienced users)

it's soo annoying that if someone said "i'll give you £500 to record three stereo songs, but it has to be done at my house" i'd either say no, or bring ALLLL of my other gear"
 
I tried 003 and I got and Mbox 2. I don't got that problem, it might just be your Mbox. I tried several Mboxes. I got the noise one time. I figured out that it was the USB cabled.. Or I tried another USB cable and then it worked fine. It's annoying. I know. But Mbox 2 have a great interface and nice sound quality. I can record noiseless with a Røde M1 for example:)

Try complain about it where you bought the Mbox, perhaps they'll give you another or fix it:)
 
hey there!

thanks for the input...


sadly, it's second hand..

it's a fault finding nightmare cos process of elimination is contradicting itself.

oktavas on mbox buzz!

oktavas on octopre dont buzz!

sm81s on mbox dont buzz!



the only new thing that i've figured out is, creating a ground from laptop or mbox chassis completely eliminates the buzz..

i discovered this because my 003 was plugged in to the lappy via firewire (but wasn't being used) and the mbox buzz died...

to test, i unplugged the firewire then ran a cable from a screw on the mbox to the nearest earth i could find (tascam 22-2 chassis)...which solved the buzz too!


so now i do have a proper question for y'all...:D:D

should i be
trying to figure out why only the oktavas buzz on a laptop/mbox setup?
or making a cable that manually grounds the chassis of my laptop/mbox?
 
The answer to your final question is perhaps both...

I've not experienced problems like this, but then I've not used your mics...

Are you using the original USB cable which came with the Mbox? Hard to know because you bought it second hand... Try changing the USB cable; most problems of this nature are due to that.

Try using your Mbox with another computer, perhaps the issue is actually with your USB connector and the laptop.

Maybe try another USB port on the laptop.
 
thanks for joining in :)

i don't know if i'm using the original cable, but i have tried three, and one of them was a real overkill heavy duty one..

i've tried all the ports on the laptop, and i've ruled out the mbox itself, as it runs fine on my desktop pc.


there's continuity between the mbox chassis and the laptop chassis, which i guess i expected..but...


i remember reading somewhere about a ground related problem with digital audio output on vostro 1500 laptops. i'm trying to find it to be sure, cos i think the solution was to bridge the sleeve of the digital audio cable to something else...

i know that's not quite the same problem, but the idea could transfer to my problem?!


idk...maybe this'll catch M.joly's eye. i'm sure he could rule out the 219s if they aren't the problem..

if what they're doin is normal, i'd be quite happy to make a ground workaround.


i don't want to rule anything out without proving it, but i doubt it's the laptop. It's good spec reasonably new system, and i've never had any other problems with it. i used to use a USB extigy for surround sound and it never hummed or buzzed.(still doesn't)
 
I would do both, I would ground it and when u have some free time try and figure out what's causing it. But I have never had a issue with the mbox. maybe it could be some electrical inteference that you are having with your power outlets that u have everything plugged into. (Not sure, Just a thought.)
 
thanks for the input RD.


yeh,,

although not directly related to power outlet (cos it happens on battery power),
the oktava's are obviously pickin up electrical interference.

i'm gona try the same setup on another laptop today just to see.
if there are no probs, i guess i need to speak to an oktava guru.



still confused as to why they're 100% tip top on the desktop pc, although, i suppose the problem could be happening there, but i don't know about it cos the setup is properly grounded?
 
ok.so, quick update.

i wrapped the oktava grills in foil and the hum is gone...+the mbox is pretty quiet (sorry).

idk.. i guess i'll re do the oktava grills, but at this stage i duno what i'm gona do different, cos i thought the current ones were perfect :confused::confused:
 
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