can a DAW be noisy?

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gravitychapters
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can a DAW be noisy?

Post by gravitychapters » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:10 pm

I can hardly believe this.

After months of troubleshooting, I've discovered the source of a noise that's been tormenting me.

It's not my mic or my pre or my cables or my electricity or cell phones or any of that stuff. It's my DAW.

Listening to my mic and pre through my interface's mixer software, everything sounds as it should. But as I open a song file in my DAW, the static shows up. Close the DAW, we go back to smooth, quiet operation.

Is this a thing? Anyone else deal with it? Any solutions?

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by jmann » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:20 pm

Is it possible that the interface is sending signal to your phones pre-converter? Or somehow with a different S/N ratio?

Which DAW are you using?

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by Magnetic Services » Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:28 pm

Are you using any plugins that add "analog noise"? That can be super annoying.

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by The Scum » Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:05 pm

What make/model is the interface?

Does it have it's own power supply, or is it USB powered?
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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Apr 12, 2021 5:55 pm

gravitychapters wrote:
Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:10 pm
I can hardly believe this.
After months of troubleshooting, I've discovered the source of a noise that's been tormenting me.
It's not my mic or my pre or my cables or my electricity or cell phones or any of that stuff. It's my DAW.
Listening to my mic and pre through my interface's mixer software, everything sounds as it should. But as I open a song file in my DAW, the static shows up. Close the DAW, we go back to smooth, quiet operation.
Is this a thing? Anyone else deal with it? Any solutions?
If this only happens once you are going THROUGH the DAW, and no longer just monitoring through the hardware, this means your interface is the culprit. Many of these interfaces have totally different audio routing for "live monitoring" as opposed to the DAC step done POST DAW. What you are likely hearing noise wise, is in that POST DAW hardware conversion, which is different than the one being used for just monitoring "sans DAW."

Hope this gets resolved for you.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by gravitychapters » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:35 pm

Hey friends.

1. My DAW is Ableton Live 11 Suite, running on a fairly healthy Macbook Pro.
2. My interface is an Audient iD44, which is AC powered but connects to computer via USB.
3. I don't see how it could be a plugin since I get the noise even with no plugins instantiated.
4. Nick, I think you're on to something. What I can't figure out, though, is that I can record the noise. Which means...wait, what does it mean?

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by The Scum » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:44 pm

Is there anything plugged into the inputs?

Are the input gain knobs all the way down?
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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by gravitychapters » Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:50 pm

Yes to #1. I usually record through an external pre, which I then run into the Audient via its line input (actually a return, but same thing).

No to #2. Since I using a line-in, no need to gain up the channel on the Audient.



The Scum wrote:
Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:44 pm
Is there anything plugged into the inputs?

Are the input gain knobs all the way down?

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by crow » Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:11 pm

I had a weird thing happen the other day where Qobuz (hi-fi streaming service, highly recommend) was making a quiet, weird digital hashy noise (I think, not sure). I could only hear it when nothing was playing, with my system fairly loud. I'm somewhat sure it was the Qobuz app or how it was interacting with my system, but I actually have been unable to get it to happen again, so I don't feel I can lay the blame on the app. Every other time I've used it, it's been fine. Maybe some sort of OS weirdness, driver interaction, USB cable problem, who knows? But it seems that a piece of audio software can, under some circumstances beyond my comprehension, be noisy.

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:00 am

gravitychapters wrote:
Mon Apr 12, 2021 8:50 pm
I usually record through an external pre, which I then run into the Audient via its line input (actually a return, but same thing).
so what if you do not use the external pre - does the noise go away? If so, then look at where the preamp is physically placed (try moving it around in case there is interference from something else).

Also, what kind of cable are you using to connect it - if it's through the insert return, then that to me implies it is an unbalanced connection (TS) and depending on how long that cable is, the quality of it, etc. and again if it is physically close to a computer... could be the source of the problem too. Anytime I get an unbalanced cable near the computer there is always problems.

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:05 am

looking at the specs it seems they do supply a TRS jack for the send/return so that is good - but make sure the cable is TRS also, and that your preamp also has TRS or XLR output.

https://audient.com/products/audio-inte ... ech-specs/
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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by gravitychapters » Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:14 am

Sounds about right. For me, this noise would literally start the second the Ableton Live logo pops up on my screen -- like, as Ableton Live begins booting up. Which is why, at first, I believed the problem was with Ableton rather than the interface.
crow wrote:
Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:11 pm
I had a weird thing happen the other day where Qobuz (hi-fi streaming service, highly recommend) was making a quiet, weird digital hashy noise (I think, not sure). I could only hear it when nothing was playing, with my system fairly loud. I'm somewhat sure it was the Qobuz app or how it was interacting with my system, but I actually have been unable to get it to happen again, so I don't feel I can lay the blame on the app. Every other time I've used it, it's been fine. Maybe some sort of OS weirdness, driver interaction, USB cable problem, who knows? But it seems that a piece of audio software can, under some circumstances beyond my comprehension, be noisy.

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by gravitychapters » Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:18 am

Your thought process is what I went through when shopping for interfaces. It was important to me that I could run a balanced signal out of an external pre into the interface with no coloration from the interface mic preamps.

Which is another way of saying, yes, I'm running TRS and/or XLR -- but always balanced.

I'm going to run some experiments today with different USB cables and the interface's built in preamps. Will report back.
digitaldrummer wrote:
Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:05 am
looking at the specs it seems they do supply a TRS jack for the send/return so that is good - but make sure the cable is TRS also, and that your preamp also has TRS or XLR output.

https://audient.com/products/audio-inte ... ech-specs/

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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Apr 13, 2021 11:54 am

Yep, "process of elimination" is your friend when it comes to this kind of troubleshooting. Strip away everything you can until you find the source. Sounds like you are getting there.
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Re: can a DAW be noisy?

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:09 pm

Is there another interface you can borrow/rent to see if the same issue persists? What happens when you disconnect your stand alone pre (and power it down)? What happens when you open Ableton with no interface connected and monitor through the computers headphone out? What happens when you open any other DAW? Garageband or Audacity?

For troubleshooting always start at one end of the chain and work towards the other end. Swap every element until you isolate the source of the noise. Mic, mic cable, no mic or cable connected, pre, pre to interface cable, no pre or cable connected to interface, interface, usb cable, no interface connected just the computer's built in I/O, software.
Also, move stuff around to see if it's interference caused by one piece of gear's proximity to another. Move the pre and interface away from the computer. Move the pre away from the interface. If there are wall wart power supplies on anything move them around too.

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