Studio monitor noise problem

M

Martin Pio

Audiophyte
Hi,
I have a high pitched noise coming through my studio monitors. The monitor make is dynaudio BM6A. The program is pro tools 7 LE running on a mac with an mbox2 mini interface. The monitors are connected via XLR(monitor) to stereo Jack (mbox). The problem appears when i enter pro tools but not before. Also it only appeared a day ago. Before that it was running fine for about two months. Thanks.
Martin
 
J

jamie2112

Banned
If you play music back thru itunes using the digidesign does it do it as well?It sounds like a hardware issue.I have not heard this before.Check all your connections 1st and see if using the digidesign to play itunes makes the same noise or if its only PT.
 
MidnightSensi

MidnightSensi

Audioholic Samurai
Do you have anything to lift the ground? With computers, usually this stuff is a grounding issue, even with high pitched noise. Usually I associate grounding issues with 60Hz hum and so forth, but it can be whine from like the computer fans or something and the USB powered audio interface amplifies it... you may or may not be able to hear some faint noise when you shake your mouse (before booting protools).

The fix may be to lift the ground to the amplifier of the speakers (a lot of people use Hum X).

You could also use a cheater plug to test it temporary, but if that fixes it you'll be best to use Hum X or something similar to have your ground.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
Hi,
I have a high pitched noise coming through my studio monitors. The monitor make is dynaudio BM6A. The program is pro tools 7 LE running on a mac with an mbox2 mini interface. The monitors are connected via XLR(monitor) to stereo Jack (mbox). The problem appears when i enter pro tools but not before. Also it only appeared a day ago. Before that it was running fine for about two months. Thanks.
Martin
Since you noticed that it only starts once you open ProTools, it's clearly not the speakers, interface or Mac. I had a weird sound with my Tascam USB input device and it went away after I did a firmware update.
 
MidnightSensi

MidnightSensi

Audioholic Samurai
Since you noticed that it only starts once you open ProTools, it's clearly not the speakers, interface or Mac. I had a weird sound with my Tascam USB input device and it went away after I did a firmware update.
I'd have certainly agreed until a few years ago when I tracked down a similar problem, and another since then, both times with recording software and USB interfaces. It seems they sometimes cause the USB interface to make a sort of whine similar to what you would hear from an alternator on a car stereo....maybe from the computer fans.

Worth a test if a Hum X or similar is handy.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Hi,
I have a high pitched noise coming through my studio monitors. The monitor make is dynaudio BM6A. The program is pro tools 7 LE running on a mac with an mbox2 mini interface. The monitors are connected via XLR(monitor) to stereo Jack (mbox). The problem appears when i enter pro tools but not before. Also it only appeared a day ago. Before that it was running fine for about two months. Thanks.
Martin
Make sure you don't have a signal feeding back through the mix. Clearly you have an oscillation. If that is not the problem, you have an unstable circuit someplace.
 
J

jamie2112

Banned
The only other thing I have had happen was somehow the word clock needed to be reset and caused an 8k whine in the monitors.I reset the clock and had no more issue.It could also be something going on with the levels on your mbox.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I'd have certainly agreed until a few years ago when I tracked down a similar problem, and another since then, both times with recording software and USB interfaces. It seems they sometimes cause the USB interface to make a sort of whine similar to what you would hear from an alternator on a car stereo....maybe from the computer fans.

Worth a test if a Hum X or similar is handy.
"The problem appears when i enter pro tools but not before." is why I answered the way I did- I assumed the interface device was already on. My noise was similar to what you describe but it went away immediately upon doing the firmware update. A grounding issue will cause noise regardless of whether the software is running- it just needs to be connected for it to show up because it's a voltage issue, not a signal processor/processing issue.
 
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