Midistudio blew my Soundcard

[688]

I think i blew the right channel of my trusted E-MU 0404PCI Soundcard.
Can somebody explain what happened here?

I use my soundcard all the time to test the in and outputs of my studiogear, as it has
a tone generator build in.

I wanted to check a Tascam Midistudio 688, so i first used the 6,3mm Inputs.
I connected the right output of the 0404 to the CH1 Input of the 688 did
a check and wanted to move on to CH2 Input. At this point it must have happened,
because i just pulled the cable out of the 688 and put it in CH2 without powering
off the machine. But the strange thing is that i did this all the time and recently
with a Tascam 388,never happened anything.

So why did it blew the soundcards Channel? I still get signal out of it but way more
quiet than the left one.

Well, lesson learned i think, always power off the gear while patching cables.

Sucks because i use my old PC for hearing Music and Sampling, I love the Patchmix Software
as it is very flexible and easy to use.

Pretty sure its blown i reseated the breakout cables, maybe ill have alook at it but not
much hope. Have to get a new one but these first generation standard pci ones are not often seen on ebay.

Is an Output OP-AMP blown??

 

[gecko zzed]

While it is possible that pulling out and re-inserting a plug into a different socket on the 688 may have done something bad to the sound card, I can't really see how it could happen under the circumstances you describe.

When phantom power is involved, having inputs muted prevents nasty noises. But 6.5m jacks are relatively innocuous.

My thinking is that the card is not fried, but that the act of unplugging and plugging may have messed the wiring of either the cable you used to go from soundcard to 688, or within the 688's dangly bits.

Try swapping channels and see what happens.

 

[688]

Thanks for your answer.
I was very confused at first too, because i know that usually nothing happens
if you unplug an audio cable while machines powered on.
First i thought i blew something on the 688 because the levels were so low after pulling the
plug, i then checked the caable, were good, checked the software that was putting out signal.
then i switched from the right output to the left output of the soundcard and the signals
were ok again.
I listened over my Monitor System and it shows that the right output is way lower now almost
dead.
The card has breakout cables on the back which i checked.
I will open the Computer and reseat the E-Mu card.

I read in a german forum that some dude did exactly the same as i did
and had exactly the same fault after that, low output level. He called
E-mu they said its blown.

I too can't really understand it there must have been occured some
Voltage going back in the soundcard while unplugging and replugging
the audio cable (688 has no Phantom Power).

EDIT: Reaseated the PCI Card, still the same i will try the card in
another pci slot and after that in another PC to rule out a mainboard problem