Reamping Noise

[xfigox]

Hello everyone,

Have been trying to reamp a couple of dry tracks, however there is this noise that is constantly in the background, whenever the cable is plugged back into the input of my Audio Interface.
Here's my setup:
Sonar x1 -> Presonus Firepod/Firebox line out -> AxeFX Rear Left Input 1 -> Output 1 -> Presonus Line input
The AxeFX Ultra is set to Analog Rear.

Here's a short clip of how it sounds like
http://www.box.com/s/16gvl000thjj0t6la7j7

I've noticed some stuff:
The noise is affected by different actions on the computer, for example:
Scrolling of mouse seem to affect the noise,
Running games with the interface plugged in produces a constant high pitched noise, but not sure if this is picked up by the AxeFX.
Noise is amplified further when a high gain amp is used,
Noise gate only partially solves the issue, however when playing sustained notes/palm muted ones (gate open), the noise is extremely audible

I have tried the following:
Tried 2 different interface, a Presonus Firebox & Presonus Firepod
Plugging power cable of computer and AxeFX to the same power strip
Using power supply for the Audio Interface (Firepod)
Tried using bus power only (Firebox)
Tried different cables
Changed inputs on audio interface
Used different dry tracks
Using noise cancelling plugins on the dry tracks
Turning on ground lift on AxeFX

Thanks for the help in advance

 

[blueprintstudios]

googled. http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/recording-studio/179378-help-axe-fx-ultra-electric-noise.html

grounding(house/room)/impedance/your guitar/your pickup/your computer(read DIY under $50) interferences

maybe your axefx has problems, heh the pain.

mine works fine : http://reamp.blueprintstudios.org
Fender Tele through the axefx's mesa rectifier amp for Paris In The Making's upcoming 10 track LP either releasing end of year or january 2012 so you won't find it on my portfolio site or their's yet.

left the sustain on for like 20 over seconds, as you can hear, no problems.

 

[xfigox]

thanks for the link, yours is really clean and noiseless! I've got a feeling that its got to do with dirty power or something. Tried using laptop running on batteries and the noise is much lower than with the AC adaptor plugged in.

 

[blueprintstudios]

thought you were using a desktop, if it's a laptop, wag the power cable abit because my current laptop's AC adaptor has this problem which I think the "GROUNDING" connection is bad then the buzz/hiss comes on and off until I stop at the best position/fengshui then it's all good.
if your laptop happens to be 2 pin, flip the direction (I know sounds weird, but a skilled electrician told me this) of it. sometimes that works as well. like I said, the problems are the ones I listed.

 

[xfigox]

thought i might just add a little info for whomever that will be reading this thread. Managed to get the noise levels down significantly by doing the following:

Unplugging all devices from the desktop front USB hub.
Unplug ALL external drives from the desktop (this one helps alot)
turning off any programs that are not being inused.

Managed to get the noise level down from -24dBFS to -38dBFS while recording at -9dBFS, its still quite substantial when monitoring the reamp tracks without any gate on but I guess that works for me for now.

Would also like to mention that recording and reamping the dry tracks via digital (SPDIF), there is absoulutely no noise whatsoever at all (only the axefx amp hiss).

 

[blueprintstudios]

and this is for axefx 1 or 2?

 

[wjl123]

this is for the axe2

 

[blueprintstudios]

so what happened with the axefx 1? I haven't worked with SPDIF before in any situation since the MD days. I'll probably look into it when I have the time and give it a shot with my axefx1

 

[xfigox]

sold it to fund the axefx2 .

Been using the SPDIF outs from the axefx 2 to record dry tracks simultaneously (really clean dry tracks with no noise at all), which also allows me to use output 2 if I ever need to connect 2 guitars simultaneously without the need of repatching and stuff, plus I don't need to use the FXLOOP block in every patch now.

I guess the downside of this is that the AXE is kinda picky with the syncing and stuff, have to use 24/48 if I'm not wrong

 

[blueprintstudios]

oh haha sorry my question was not specific, actually I meant what happened with your situation with axefx1 whether you managed to solve your noise issues.

ah yes, I recall reading that sync downside problems just didn't bothered to fix what isn't broken on my end.

 

[xfigox]

I found out that part of the noise being so loud is because I had my interface's volume knob linked to the other outputs other than the monitor outs. So the actual signal of the dry track was very low, so by unlinking it I managed to a higher signal level, But haven't been able to get it to 100% clean noise free with the axefx ultra.

Still I believe the main culprit is the desktop or something, i left the axefx on to monitor the different noise created and got lots of weird beeps and whirling sounds when I'm copying stuff from a CD to an external drive.

 

[blueprintstudios]

That's a really weird audio interface issue, I didn't know signal-sucking happens through audio interfaces input/outputs , sounds like an electronic/power issue. no issue with that on my end cos my firewirebuspowered echo audio fire 4's outputs front headphones / rear 1/4 outputs > convert> stacked 2 RCA outputs one goes to headphone amp one goes to videocam.

leaking interferences from computers should be greatly reduced (or removed) if you're using a desktop or audio interface (the DIY $50 FAQ has this issue with an onboard soundcard) and I get this big time with my old laptop unless the grounding is done right.
then again my desktop only has 1 500gb plugged in when I'm recording. no DVDroms or anything. internet disconnected as WLAN causes interferences as well. so USB drives or too many HDD activities will add in noise too, this has always been an issue with my past experience with HDD standalone recorders which is why SSD is getting more popular as it's fast + no moving parts. just that it's expensive too.

Other than that you shouldn't be doing anything else when you're reamping heheh.

 

[xfigox]

haha yeah, was just testing to see what would really cause the noise to occur/change, I have the dvdrom drive disabled in this OS now. Was wondering if a power conditioner can actually help the situation.

 

[blueprintstudios]

just open up your pc and unplug the power. if the DVDrom spins it still will generate noise. provided you're not a self proprietary pc (hp/dell/acer)

as for power, make sure your audio cable does not parellel with the power cables or go near anything electronic (like the PC power supply) you see me talk about this in the DIY $50 FAQ.

yes a power conditioner would help as I'm using a cheap samson one myself which a friend bought me for birthday about 9 years ago still works good. But how much I have no idea depends on your house/grounding (no effect if your place was fine in the first place), if you can buy an axefx 2 I guess you can set aside funds to get a furman one.

before I forget, do not share fluorescent lamp lights (thats why you see many studios using tungsten + lots of aircon) + stuff such as fans on the same power extension during recording. many people overlook this but it generates noise too heheh. I use both my self cos I'd rather save electricity bills mixing than to have aircon and the fluorescent lamp I'm using has followed me since I played lego I think. just change the lamp. 11watts power efficiency.

 

[xfigox]

went out to sim lim tower and got some balanced TRS cables for the connection from the audio interface output into the rear input and the whiny noises and stuff are all gone, no idea the noise rejection from the trs cables would actually solve the problem. Glad its working well now

 

[blueprintstudios]

cable grounding/shield.not noise rejection