Noisy Motherboards?

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desmond

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Ahoy!

I am done with pulling my hair out. I am currently running a full licenced version of cubase studio 4, recording via a yamaha MW10 mixer. There is a pretty bad signal to noise ratio, and the noise is a particularly annoying 15k tone.

The noise is relatively bad when recording onto my PC, yet it is almost non existant when recording onto my friends Mac. It is still there but at about 90% lower level.

After a lengthy process of elimination I have concluded that it must simply be a noise motherboard (It is an ASRock GE PRO M2, 2.38Ghz motherboard, all IDE, with 768mb DDR RAM).

Do different motherboards generate different levels of noise?

Is there anything else anyone can suggest I try?

Thanks...

Demond
 
1. What's your soundcard?
2. Balanced or unbalanced connections?
3. Are the mixer and computer connected to the same power outlet (via a power strip or somesuch)?
4. Are you sure your cables are in good condition?
5. CRT or flat panel monitor?
6. Do you have a refrigirator nearby? (I am serious)

Probably I can think of other questions to ask, but for now that should be a good start. A motherboard by itself wouldn't be "noisy" or "noiseless".
 
1. Cubase is treating the MW10 USB mixer as the soundcard. The mixer itself performs the A/D D/A conversion, sends digital signal to computer by USB. The onboard soundcard is a poxy C-media generic, though I have all windows sounds disabled, it is basically doing nothing at the moment.

2. The cables to the monitors are balanced. Either balanced or unbalanced input, the noise is exactly the same.

3. I have tried changing the source of power, no difference at all!

4. Cables are great, have tried many different combinations and the noise stays the same.

5. I am using a HUGE 19" flat screen CRT. However, the mixer was sitting in the same position relative to the monitor. When recording onto my PC the noise was bad. When recording onto the Mac, the noise was gone. The mixer/cables did not move relative to the monitor.

6. There is a refrigerator lying on it's side, outside, about 15 metres away, unplugged. Perhaps I should kick it?

I am convinced that it is either an internal component issue, or an issue with Cubase. I will try recording direct into the soundcard, and also recording via the USB mixer but into a different program.

Thanks!

Desmond
 
Do you get the same noise if you record through the onboard sound card?
 
I haven't tried that yet. It will be interesting to find out. Would kind of defeat the purpose of buying a dedicated USB mixer, haha!
 
^^ It might indicate a fault with the mixer, not that it was a unnecessary purchase. Or did you say that you recorded with the same mixer on a different computer and it worked fine?


Do you get this noise, when recording vox, guitar etc

Just gotta narrow it down
 
The noise occurs at a totally neglible level when recording onto a mac. For whatever reason it is recording onto the PC in which the noise is noticeable, and then only when recording low levels.

On these grounds it can't really be an issue with the mixer, other than it's compatibility with PC hardware/software (as opposed to Mac).
 
It could be a faulty/dirty powered USB port. Try grabbing a USB 2.0 card and seeing if that solves it.
 
my laptop does a bit of high frequency whining. supposedly it's something to do with the cpu. i read something about turning off power saving for the usb hubs. it killed about 90% of the whine. might be worth a shot for you.
 
perhaps it's a driver issue? was the Mac also using Cubase?
 
desmond said:
Do different motherboards generate different levels of noise?

Is there anything else anyone can suggest I try?
Click to expand...

Not unless they're seriously defective, no. Usually electrical noise on a power rail is a sign of a bad (or, more commonly, poorly designed) power supply, not a bad motherboard.
 
sounds like a ground loop problem to me. is the cord going to the mixer 3 prong? i already know that the cord to the computer will be three prong. if you have one of those three prong to two prong adapters you should try that one each one seperately or both that the same time to see if you can remove the noise. I had the same issue on my djing laptop. removing the ground removed all unwanted noise. i feel like it should be the opposite way, plugging in a ground seems like it would remove noise, not add it. worth a shot and its cheap to try.
 
I have to agree with dgatwood ,A bad PSU or a failing PSU can cause a bad Hum or squeel ......
Since PC"s use a SMPS they can cause a High frequency noise to enter your audio signal, and if the transistors in the SMPS start to oscilate badly or start to fail they can introduce a high frequency whine/Hum......

I would suggest that you try a different PSU in your PC and see if that helps with the niose.....

Cheers
 
mystasynasta said:
sounds like a ground loop problem to me.
Click to expand...
I have to disagree. Ground loops are at 50 or 60 Hz depending on what country you're in. Since he's talking more about whistling sound, I am more thinking of EMI/Radio interference (which is why I was asking if he had a CRT monitor and a fridge nearby). Dgatwood's idea sounds about right.
 
ground loops can make weird noises much higher also. i know because i had the same problem. it was with my dj equipment not my recording equipment but my desktop that i would take on the road with me used to make weird noises all through out the audio spectrum until i broke the 3rd prong off on the power cable. it was kind of an accident but i never heard the noise again. the noise i was mostly getting was the noise from fans running. when the fans turned on faster on the processor, the noise became higher in pitch. there was also weird noises whenever i did something on the computer. it may not be the same problem or solution for him but it's worth a try instead of replacing a bunch of hardware. when i got my laptop to dj with, i had the same issue, but this time i knew exactly what to do.
 
mystasynasta said:
ground loops can make weird noises much higher also. i know because i had the same problem. it was with my dj equipment not my recording equipment but my desktop that i would take on the road with me used to make weird noises all through out the audio spectrum until i broke the 3rd prong off on the power cable.
Click to expand...

There's really no such thing as a ground loop. That's one of those terms that people usually use when they don't really understand what's wrong.... A true ground loop is a harmless condition. What most people call a ground loop, however, isn't, and is more accurately called a difference in ground potential, or more simply, a poorly grounded device or outlet. :D

What you have in these cases is two devices, one of which has a good ground and one of which doesn't. You plug one device into the other. Any noise generated by or soaked up by the device with a poor ground has to go somewhere, and since its ground sucks, the shortest path to ground is through the shield of the audio cable, which can then induce noise in the signal line.

It gets worse, though. If the ground in both devices is partially floating, because many devices have a resistor between the signal "ground" and the signal input, all that hum dumped into the shield is also bleeding into the input. That's why it is important for equipment manufacturers to ground their *&%#$%^ grounds... but I digress....

You should never try to fix a ground loop by disconnecting the mains (power) ground. If you must lift the ground somewhere, lift it in the audio cable. The right fix, however, is to make a solid, low-resistance connection between each device and the actual building ground. Make a custom cable that has a three-prong power cord on one end with a wire attached only to the ground pin, fanning out the ground to signal plugs. Plug one into a spare jack in every piece of gear. If you don't have a spare jack on a piece of gear, make a pigtail with a plug on one and and a socket on the other end, then connect the extra ground wire to that.
 
I really would like to know what the fix was!

looks like desmond hit n run
 
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