ANOTHER BUZZ PROBLEM! I will be very ...

ANOTHER BUZZ PROBLEM! I will be very specific...

Posted on Sep 11, 2011 09:34 pm
jdickens
Member Since: Sep 11, 2011

I'm sitting here trying to figure out a buzz problem. I've torn down my setup to bare minimum with the buzz still present. I would assume this should be easy to fix.

Right now, the only items in the situation are:

MacBook Pro - Not plugged into power supply. Running on battery power.

Apogee Duet w/ a Balanced Breakout Box.

The appropriate 15-pin connector to connect my Breakout Box to my Duet.

The FireWire cable connecting my Duet and my MacBook.

A pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 headphones.

A Mogami cable running from my Balanced Breakout Box to my Schecter Hellraiser 7. It has active pickups.

I've tried switching to other high quality cables. No change to the buzz issue.

I've trying using different guitars with passive pickups. No change to the buzz issue.

The buzz is only there when a guitar is plugged into the Duet. I can have my inputs on with nothing plugged in, and I do not get a buzz.

I can move the guitar around the room and affect the level of the buzz, but I can't get it to go away.

So just to reiterate, I have nothing plugged into a power outlet. my Macbook is running on battery power, powering my Apogee Duet which the I/Os are run through a Balanced Breakout Box. I'm not even hearing the signal through the outputs on the Breakout Box. I have my headphones plugged into the headphone jack on the Duet itself. Even If I unplug the headphones, I can see on the fader that the buzz is still there. I'm using a Mogami cable to plug in my Schecter Hellraiser. The buzz is there only when the guitar is plugged in.

I can see the Output fader in Logic showing the low level noise signal that is coming through. I even found that the buzz is coming primarily through 2250 Hz. I recording the track without playing anything, and the buzz was in the recorded track.

This is all tested on a dry signal.

I'm looking for insight as to the cure of this buzz.

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Dematrix
http://www.reverbnation.com/2ndg
Member
Since: Nov 27, 2007

Sep 11, 2011 10:06 pm

So youre using th apogee "as" your soundcard?
When you check in sound and audio in windows, is that device chosen?

If so, i dunno man, sounds like an earth thing.
Rob Stemple who is a member here would have more of an idea than me, but yeah just make sure your not running thru your computers soundcard as well.

Rob Stemple
The Czar of BS
Member
Since: Dec 31, 2007

Sep 12, 2011 01:23 am

Two things come to mind while reading your problem.

1.) Some cable in your chain has gone one legged. Meaning that even though your using balanced cable, one of the wires has broken away.

2.) RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) This could be a power issue in the room that you are recording in. Or, something is producing a radio wave close by that is effecting your guitar.

If RFI is the case, your going to need to a different section of your house to record.

I suspect that one of the cables that you have in the chain has become unbalanced. Check all of your cables. Make sure that all are in working order. And obviously, the guitar cable will be unbalanced. Since you can not balance a pick up. But, every thing that goes from the Apogee back to your computer should be balanced.