gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
So . . . many years ago I was running a PC with first Logic, then Reaper. With Logic I used an ISIS sound card, then with Reaper I used a Presonus Firepod.
All went well, and I had a noise-free system with my active monitors.
Time passed, and there was an urgent need for me to replace the PC. That's fine . . . no big deal really, except . . . this time, when I hooked everything up, I experienced the digital noise through the monitors that many others have complained about (particularly those with laptops).
This was seriously annoying, and I tried a variety of things to reduce it . . . again, many of the things that others have tried. I was able to knock it back a bit, but not eliminate it entirely.
Now, I knew that I was inviting trouble through not having balanced lines going from Firepod to monitors and headphone amp, but because I had a messy switching arrangement, I kept putting off doing anything about getting this all converted to a balanced system.
In fact, I had procrastinated for so long that I had gotten used to the background noises, and was subconsciously discounting them.
I recently treated myself to a new pair of monitors (Neumann KH310), and while the speakers were aurally delicious, all of a sudden I was aware of the digital noise again. This was no way to enjoy a new set of monitors. Before I went and replaced my tangle of a switching system, I patched them directly to the Firepod with a pair of balanced leads.
Absolute, total silence.
Why I had procrastinated for so long is beyond me. It was dumb. The price of complacency was putting up with something substandard unnecessarily for way too long!
All went well, and I had a noise-free system with my active monitors.
Time passed, and there was an urgent need for me to replace the PC. That's fine . . . no big deal really, except . . . this time, when I hooked everything up, I experienced the digital noise through the monitors that many others have complained about (particularly those with laptops).
This was seriously annoying, and I tried a variety of things to reduce it . . . again, many of the things that others have tried. I was able to knock it back a bit, but not eliminate it entirely.
Now, I knew that I was inviting trouble through not having balanced lines going from Firepod to monitors and headphone amp, but because I had a messy switching arrangement, I kept putting off doing anything about getting this all converted to a balanced system.
In fact, I had procrastinated for so long that I had gotten used to the background noises, and was subconsciously discounting them.
I recently treated myself to a new pair of monitors (Neumann KH310), and while the speakers were aurally delicious, all of a sudden I was aware of the digital noise again. This was no way to enjoy a new set of monitors. Before I went and replaced my tangle of a switching system, I patched them directly to the Firepod with a pair of balanced leads.
Absolute, total silence.
Why I had procrastinated for so long is beyond me. It was dumb. The price of complacency was putting up with something substandard unnecessarily for way too long!
