hi all,
my problem is this: whenever i record OR play music from my computer while another electrical device is attached (eg. guitar amp lined out into the back of the sound card to record), somehow the hum of the hard drive and cd-rom and other weird stuff i presume is inside the computer gets added to what i record. it's a very, very obnoxious, metallic hum, and it's just loud enough to irritate even when you're not really concentrating on it.
if, say, i'm recording using cakewalk, and press alt-tab to bring up another application fullscreen, i can hear the hum of (i presume) the video card working hard to update its framebuffer. or if i start up explorer and double click the cd-rom icon, i can hear the cd-rom spinning up and then down. very bizarre.
anyway, i don't _think_ it's a ground loop thing, because this happens even when the computer and the attached device (be it a set of powered output speakers or my amplifier for recording) are plugged into the same outlet. please correct me if this has no bearing whatsoever on the problem [grin].
i've tested with two different soundcards in my computer, and the problem persists.
i've used three different amplifiers, and the problem persists.
i've used two different stereos and the problem persists.
when i use headphones instead of powered speakers, there's no problem (so long as the guitar amplifier isn't connected to the sound card's line in).
when i run my guitar direct into the sound-card's line-in, there's no problem (so long as i haven't got the sound card running out into a separate electrical device).
does _anyone_ have _any_ idea what's going on here? please?
chalmers
my problem is this: whenever i record OR play music from my computer while another electrical device is attached (eg. guitar amp lined out into the back of the sound card to record), somehow the hum of the hard drive and cd-rom and other weird stuff i presume is inside the computer gets added to what i record. it's a very, very obnoxious, metallic hum, and it's just loud enough to irritate even when you're not really concentrating on it.
if, say, i'm recording using cakewalk, and press alt-tab to bring up another application fullscreen, i can hear the hum of (i presume) the video card working hard to update its framebuffer. or if i start up explorer and double click the cd-rom icon, i can hear the cd-rom spinning up and then down. very bizarre.
anyway, i don't _think_ it's a ground loop thing, because this happens even when the computer and the attached device (be it a set of powered output speakers or my amplifier for recording) are plugged into the same outlet. please correct me if this has no bearing whatsoever on the problem [grin].
i've tested with two different soundcards in my computer, and the problem persists.
i've used three different amplifiers, and the problem persists.
i've used two different stereos and the problem persists.
when i use headphones instead of powered speakers, there's no problem (so long as the guitar amplifier isn't connected to the sound card's line in).
when i run my guitar direct into the sound-card's line-in, there's no problem (so long as i haven't got the sound card running out into a separate electrical device).
does _anyone_ have _any_ idea what's going on here? please?
chalmers