Getting rid of hiss/ hum
 

I've done the obvious of getting good quality audio cables, seperating them away from power cables. None of my synths etc.. have any noise coming from them though there is some hiss/hum from the mixer/ monitors and definately the sound card.

Tascam DM24 mixer
Roland DM5 Monitors
Edirol UA-25 Soundcard

Do I just need to put up with some hiss/ hum and perhaps EQ out of the mix as best I can?

I had a few rumbles and hums so I replaced all my cables with balanced ones and it fixed the problem. Someone told me its best to find the cause and actually solve it but in my bedroom setup thats really not an option.....balanced cables did the trick and everything is working fine now.

ten

Im guessing that it might be originating from your computer. Sometimes there is a bad grounding within.

From the computer, to your soundcard, through your mixer, then through your monitors.

Do some trouble shooting.

Unplug your soundcard from your mixer, see if the hum is still there.

go straight from your soundcard to your monitors, to check if it is the mixer....

Good luck!

:)

Also, look into purchasing an EbTech Hum Eliminator, they cost $59 US.

It's a very simple box, 2 in/2 out (1/4", balanced or unbalanced).



I had hiss/hum (60 HZ groundloop I think) in my system (P4 2.4 GHZ, M-Audio 2496, Behringer UB 1204, Behringer 2031A Monitors) and thought it might have been the Behringer gear.

Then I purchased balanced cables to conncet the whole mess together and still had hum, so I think my problems was along the lines of what Jasedee just described.

Once I bought the EbTech, I connected two 1/4" patch cables (1 ft. cables used to connect guitar FX boxes) to my Control Room Outs (I don't use the main outs on my DAW mixer) and into the IN ports of the EbTech. Then I connected the OUT ports of my EbTech to my 1/4" TRS cables that go to my 2031As.

My signal chain is dead silent now and I can crank my system and hear no hum.

This device is about $200 cheaper than anything using Jensen transformers and works damn well.

Good luck!

-Alex

Thanks a lot for the ideas guys :idea:

Actually the issue is probably with impedance. Most synths output unbalanced signals. Most pro level audio interfaced have balanced inputs. Unbalanced lines top out at -10db and balanced lines top out at +4db. What you need is a line level shifter.



It is a passive device that removes the ground hum as well as adjusts the volume leve and matches your impedance to your interface. I got one of these and it solved most of my hiss/hum problems, except one and it was a cheapo synth that was noisy from the start. Unfortunately, the only thing it doesn't fix is a noisy synth.

Thanks Mark... the Hum eliminator from our resident Elvis above is a line level shifter too as far as I could make out from the text.

I'll look into these, cheers guys.

ps the majority (but not all) of the hiss/hum is coming from my soundcard.
Edirol UA25, External device.

Any further ideas how to quiten this thing?
Or
Do you think it would be worth my looking at a new soundcard?
Or
Are they all pretty much the same with regards to noise, my last Soundblaster Live was a loud bugger.

I find hiss/noise is created when I attach either the Ti or Triton to the PC via USB. So the main hissy pissy culprits are the soundcard, Ti and Triton (when USB'd).

Do you reckon the Line levellers will be able to strip the hiss that is caused by the above from their audio outputs?

Excuse my rattling on about this, just looking to make sure I hit the nail on the head and reduce the noise appropriately.

Cheers

What about if you use a different USB cable, or a different USB port.

Troubleshooting....go through and rule out ALL possibilities