Presonus Firebox - Helicopter sound - HELP

InsideOut

InsideOut

Power User
Just got a Firebox. It's all hooked up, and seems to be working but I'm getting a helicopter sound through my monitors. I've tried plugging into different outlets, unplugging the firebox (which actually makes it worse), changing levels in the mixer etc. I ended up turning my monitors way down which helps some, but it's still there and music doesn't sound as good as it did before with the UX2 . Any suggestions on a possible setting I'm missing or something? I haven't even tried recording with it yet because if I'm stuck with a helicopter in the background just listening to music, I don't know if this is a keeper :?
 
...I use a Presonus Firebox...if you are using a MacBook Pro laptop like I am, you have to use the power cable that comes with the Firebox; the phantom power won't work off the firewire cable with the new Macs...so you have to use the "wall wart."

...the same thing happened to me...with my old MacBook, the Presonus Firebox was powered via phantom power...

...make sure the drivers are up-to-date too...
 
Thanks! Sorry I should have specified my system...

AMD dual core, XP Home, 3 gig ram. KRK powered monitors.

The noise is there with and without the power attached to the firebox. It works both ways, but actually more noise when the power is disconnected.
 
Strange as this may sound:
Try this while (Firebox plugged in no wall wart). While the sound is going on click on “My Network Places” in the left pane click “View Network Connections”. In the right pane you will now see your network connections you want the “1394 connection” right click on that when the menu comes up click disable. In a few seconds it will disable itself. After it becomes disabled right click on it again and this time hit “Enable” soon as it re-enables itself again the noise might disappear.

There is no rebooting involved and the above only takes a few seconds, I have to do it to my own machine from time to time, my noises are a bit different it’s more like popping & crackling. My machine is a bit under powered and yours is not but it might be a good starting point. In my case I believe the clocking gets a little out of whack and the above resets it.

BTW it is a temp fix till the next reboot
 
Hey thanks 6L6C :cool: . I just tried that but unfortunately it has no affect. Since I last posted, I updated to the latest drivers and firmware which helped. The helicopter is gone. There is still a high/low frequency hum but it's not as bad. I'd like to get rid of it though because it's annoying when the room is quiet, and also I'm concerned it will interfere with mastering.

Any additional suggestions are as appreciated as those already posted :cool:
 
As for the other noise, is it possible some sort of ground loop going on? Especially were the Firebox is being powered through phantom power.

Try this : remove all cables from the Firebox except the Fire wire of course, and use a pair of head phones. It is not good enough to have the monitors off remove connection.
Hopefully you can get it to the point where there is no noise and then you can start adding on again and find out the exact problem

The good news if you ever decide to upgrade in the future I have the Firebox working with Windows 7, no issues at all.
 
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