Digital artifacts/noise when hooked up direct. Any ideas?

V

VNGuitar

Member
Hey guys,

I've had my Axe FX XL hooked to a Mesa 2:50 power amp and a real 1x12 cab, v30, for about a year now and I've enjoyed it a lot. These days I decided to hook it up directly to my recording interface (SPDIF). It sounds awesome, but I am also running into an issue which, I am sure, is common (and may have already been covered in this forum). In many cases, regardless of the amount of gain, when I don't play, the amp block produces these digital artifacts (crackle-like noise). Those are the most prominent typically when I am holding the strings with my right hand to muffle them. My hand could slightly change its position, and you'd hear them. Depending on the preset, that could be relatively tolerable - or blatantly annoying. Noisier pickups can amplify this, and vintage single coils are the worst. With my 2:50 these artifacts were minuscule and I didn't pay much attention.

Tried using a noise suppressor. Haven't had much much luck fixing this without chewing up my tone (may be I am doing something wrong? Not much of a noise suppressor fan, to be honest). Preamp sensitivity, if I am not mistaken, can be tweaked so that most of this issue goes away, but that also messes up the highs and completely alters the feel. I believe the solution is somewhere under the hood of the Amp block, and it's more like a sweet spot, rather than a total solution. I am still new at Quantum, as well as direct connections with cabinet and amp simulation, so I haven't found it yet.

Any suggestions/ideas would be much appreciated. Feel free to share anything that works for you. :)
 
Take a look at the Vu meter under utility and watch to see when its developing on there. I have noticed when you start hitting +6 or greater and you tend to hear it start to breakup and get kind an uncomfortable harsh. Its a different sound than when your actually clipping the output amp on the axe.

If this is the case it should just be a matter of going back through and adjusting your volume levels across your patch.
 
Presonus Firestudio Project

Gotta check the sample rate, but I am almost positive that's not an issue. The noise only appears when I don't play. The conditions it shows up are similar to what you hear from a normal amp when you don't play and your volume pot is open. But it's just a different type of noise, not hum.
 
Under GLOBAL, noise gate offset seems to be helping a bit - I set it to 7.60db. Would this be something you guys would recommend?
 
Noise gate offset is mainly intended for environments/guitars that are noisier/quieter than the previous, once you've actually configured the gate as desired on multiple presets. I'd recommend setting it back to 0 dB, then disabling the input gate (threshold parameter at minimum) in the preset for now during troubleshooting.

In the Presonus control panel software, is clock source set to S/PDIF when trying this?

Can you post a recording of the noise?

Does it go away completely if you turn the guitar's volume knob down?

Have you tried moving around in the room and altering guitar angle, to identify any nearby devices as the noise source?
 
Bakerman said:
Noise gate offset is mainly intended for environments/guitars that are noisier/quieter than the previous, once you've actually configured the gate as desired on multiple presets. I'd recommend setting it back to 0 dB, then disabling the input gate (threshold parameter at minimum) in the preset for now during troubleshooting.

In the Presonus control panel software, is clock source set to S/PDIF when trying this?

Can you post a recording of the noise?

Does it go away completely if you turn the guitar's volume knob down?

Have you tried moving around in the room and altering guitar angle, to identify any nearby devices as the noise source?
Click to expand...

Yes, the Presonus is set up correctly.

Noise does go away completely when guitar volume goes down. This noise is very similar to the way a normal tube amp behaves with different guitars and different pickups - only the type of noise is slightly different - more "crackl-y" and digital. I have noticed that certain amps in the Axe FX are noisier, while others are dead quiet - that is why I think this is a setting somewhere in the amp block, or possibly somewhere under I/O or UTILITY. Been trying to set up the Friedman HBE with the new firmware to sound quiet, no luck so far. At the same time, one of the factory settings - Spawn Q-Rod, which is much gainer, is way quieter. Changing guitar angle generally does not help much at this point when I am only using the Axe FX with no real power amp.

Yes, I will record something and post it asap.
 
Anyone else experience digital artifacts? I’ve had my Axe II xl+ for a few days and am experiencing some digital artifacts when the guitar is idle or when I rub the strings.
 
Joseph Lee said:
Anyone else experience digital artifacts? I’ve had my Axe II xl+ for a few days and am experiencing some digital artifacts when the guitar is idle or when I rub the strings.
Click to expand...
Usually best to start a new thread rather than revive one dead for two years.

Are you plugged into USB? Try moving your guitar away from your computer...

Maybe you can elaborate on what "digital artifacts" are?
 
I had the exact same issue on my Apollo 8 TB interface when using S/PDIF. There's a button in the UAD mixer panel called "SR Convert." Once switched "on" it solved the issue. I don't know if the Presonus has a feature like this, but it took away all the crackle on the Apollo. It drove me mad until I was pointed in the right direction.
 
Double check your environment for static. I kid you not I chased this issue for weeks. I tore apart my system, interchanged cables, rebooted this, rebuilt that to no avail. This was in my home studio so a lot of my jamming and recording was at night when I was in my comfy mode. My sweetheart had given me a pair of those big comfy bear paw fuzzy house shoes. One night I switched to my tennis shoes to run out and get the mail and I came back and started recording. For whatever reason I noticed the static and crackles gone. No way... are you kidding me? Switched to the fuzzy shoes... static back.

Check your environment.... carpet, plastic, fabrics.... fuzzy house shoes.
 
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