Digital grungy noise.

henryrobinett

henryrobinett

Fractal Fanatic
Ok - I have yet to do my due diligence but I got noise. There's a background digital grunge low level noise. I plugged in my new XiTone actives. That's where I heard it. Too busy and lazy to try and track it down. I plugged the XiTones into my Axe Fx II and nothing. But different presets. I thought it was the compressor or amp. Car Roamer. I still need to research.

I'm too into practicing to hunt this down. Has anyone coeriebcd this? CPU is 82%. Is that too high? Can it be causing that? I didn't reset the amps after fw update. I have output going to computer - XLR as well as cabs - 1/4". It sounds like there's a demon trapped in the speaker.
 
Can you post the preset? Is it happening on all presets including factory clean? Or is it just this one?
 
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It's not the preset. It's on both Axe Fx II and AX8. So it's something else. I have the out put gain very low on both. I'm practicing at a low volume. So the level is low on both the FX2, AX8 and the XiTone cabs. Could this be it? Sorry. I'm still too busy to troubleshoot. Then when I have time I'm too pooped.
 
If you don't have time to troubleshoot, our ability to help is going to be limited...
Does it happen when you have nothing plugged into the XiTone, but have it turned on? Does it happen with other speakers? Do you hear it through headphones? Have you tried your guitar and cables in other amps to make sure there isn't a wiring problem or a cable with a faulty end?
 
This is not a known issue with either unit. So you need to do some of the obvious process of elimination type troubleshooting yourself.
 
selta said:
If you don't have time to troubleshoot, our ability to help is going to be limited...
Does it happen when you have nothing plugged into the XiTone, but have it turned on? Does it happen with other speakers? Do you hear it through headphones? Have you tried your guitar and cables in other amps to make sure there isn't a wiring problem or a cable with a faulty end?
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I know. I'm less looking for help than throwing a line out to see if anyone else has experienced this. Hopefully today I'll be able to test some stuff. I am using Car Roamer on both presets though. I'll try some other amps.
 
I had the same thing happen to my ax8 a couple of times and then it stopped doing it for some reason. . Then after that some of my heavy presets lost 75% overdrive and when I restarted the ax8 it was fine. Kind of scary if your out playing a gig. It was after the 3.50 update when it happened and since then I updated it to 3.51
 
Izzwardo said:
I had the same thing happen to my ax8 a couple of times and then it stopped doing it for some reason. . Then after that some of my heavy presets lost 75% overdrive and when I restarted the ax8 it was fine. Kind of scary if your out playing a gig. It was after the 3.50 update when it happened and since then I updated it to 3.51
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If you are running very high CPU, it is possible to run the CPU load up over 100% for a short period of time when you switch presets (or X/Y). This can cause undesirable audio effects until the unit starts disabling effects.
 
Could be bad gain staging. If you have the AX-8 output level turned way down then your gain staging is wrong. You want to run the AX-8 around noon and turn down the volume at the monitors.
 
FractalAudio said:
Could be bad gain staging. If you have the AX-8 output level turned way down then your gain staging is wrong. You want to run the AX-8 around noon and turn down the volume at the monitors.
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I'm going to experiment a little now. So I haven't altered any output SETTINGS. But I've brought the output level knob down on both units. For practicing at low volumes the knobs on both units are pretty low. This can cause this? I thought the gain staging problems were manifest in the blocks, presets, amp, etc, not in the master output level.
 
FractalAudio said:
Could be bad gain staging. If you have the AX-8 output level turned way down then your gain staging is wrong. You want to run the AX-8 around noon and turn down the volume at the monitors.
Click to expand...

With this info does the level within the preset have any effects on this or does it strictly have to do with where the output volume is set?
 
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Both presets have Comp, Cab, Amp (Roamer), Delay, MDly and Reverb. I've disengaged the Comp with no change. The AF2 also has Drive, Enhancer, Chorus, Pitch, Trem and Ring Mod, all disengaged except for Enhancer. The AX8 also has Wah and Chorus disengaged.
 
I was going to try and record it, but I'd have to use a mic - which they ARE set up for it - but I never have heard this thing before I got the XiTone. It doesn't appear in my recordings where I go analog XLR directly into my DAW. The levels are different though.

So yes, I'm assuming the problem was gain staging. Instead of changing the output gain of the amp blocks, readjusting everything, I tried to do the lazy mans approach and just bring the output knob down on the front of the Fractal units - just while practicing. But that fed into the XiTone whose level I also lowered considerably. I didn't think this would effect it like that but I guess it did.

Keep in mind, it's not a loud distortion. Its very low, like a lower harmonic that changes pitch with the notes I play, so I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. I'll see if I can capture it if it appears again. Perhaps it's on purpose. Like a tube harmonic. Is this like a duh?
 
FractalAudio said:
Could be bad gain staging. If you have the AX-8 output level turned way down then your gain staging is wrong. You want to run the AX-8 around noon and turn down the volume at the monitors.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this tip! It already happened once with me!
 
Well . . . just to clarify, it appears I was right. It's an issue with the first iteration of the digital XiTone active cabs. I'm an early adaptor. So you know, I get to be on the front line. So it had nothing to do with gain staging.
 
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