Need Help!!Microphone makes buzzing noise only on my Desktop Pc (Attachment included)

Sal_Meth

Sal_Meth

TrillWavez
So here's the situation,

am working with a Scarlett 2i2 interface, with a Samson C01 microphone,
I've recorded tracks on my laptop before with this combo, and it all sounded good, until i plugged the interface to my i7 desktop computer, the microphone kept making a weird buzzing noise following a pattern (Listen to the attachment)
I've contacted Focusrite support, and they still haven't fixed my problem, so i thought maybe somebody here had experienced this.
i tried updating the drivers, changing the usb port, taking windows sounds off and nothing worked.
Plugged it back to the laptop and everything sounds as it's supposed to...
Can anyone help me out ?

Thanks.

(Please listen to the attachment)
 

Attachments

  • Microphone buzzing.mp3
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Well your desktop is definitely the problem somehow if you get good results on your laptop. Are you using the same speakers/headphones on your PC as you did on your laptop? Try removing everything connected to your PC except the Scarlett, your mouse, keyboard, and display monitor and see if you get the same results using only headphones. Do you hear buzzing even when the Mic isn't live or is it just when the mic is unmuted?

Another problem could be your PC's AC cord or the power strip your PC and speaker monitors are plugged into. Maybe run an extension cord to another outlet in your studio for your PC and see if the buzzing stops.

Cheers!
 
Taking everything off doesn't help, took off my External HDD, Midi keyboard, and yet nothing changes.
and yeah i used the same headphones on both, i currently do not own monitors, so that wouldn't be the problem (planning to get some asap)
i might try changing the power strip.
Thanks for the answers bro.
 
Sal_Meth said:
Just changed the power strip, same problem persists...
Click to expand...

Damn dude, I don't know then. I remember this happening to one of my buddies and it was b/c he had a lamp and some other stuff plugged into the same power strip as his PC. It was a different Audio interface tho.

It's definitely your PC tho bro. Buzzing is usually from some electrical or sound interference. You can try disabling your PCs sound card in computer management so that it only sees the scarlett as usable. Not sure man, but good luck with this.

Cheers !
 
sal, based on the audio provided you have what we refer to as "motor boating". this is a sure sign that one or more capacitors in the power supply for the microphone has become damaged/unstable what we are hearing is a capacitor charging and discharging in an oscillatory pattern- i.e. the problem will be in the phantom power side of the interface

ps the above troubleshooting would not address this issue but eliminated a whole lot of other possibilities before I listened

post scriptum

just looked at the scarlett manual and it is likely that you are actually experiencing a far more insidious problem to do with usb buss specification vs actual implementation in hardware

the capacitor charge/discharge cycle is also indicative of this so explains why I was thinking the above

USB buss power is specified as 5V@2A per usb port

However, most hardware implementations do it as 5V@2a/number of ports; i.e. they divide the 2A across all ports on that particular buss, in most cases this means a port can only provide 0.5A or in some dastardly implementations 0.25A.

Devices that draw their power from the hardware buss and expect 2A are therefore caught in a cycle of trying to draw more current than the port can provide,,which can lead to a cyclic current pull like we hear in your sample audio

Solution buy a powered USB hub that the scarlett is plugged in to and then connect that to the computer or get a "real" interface that is separately powered and therefore immune to the problems associated with USB buss power
 
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Thanks for the answers Bandcoach,
i will try to get a powered usb hub if i can find one, but what confuses me is why doesn't it happen with the laptop ? is it cause each laptop usb port can provide 2A unlike the desktop's ? cause it got fewer ones, or some other reason?
 
independently powered so ac adapter

as for the laptop vs desktop: supposition but based in solid electronic design theory:

laptops on battery power will provide power as required without any cyclic charge/discharge - it's all dc to begin with so no issues with alternating current causing ripples in the current (water metaphor exceedingly apt here)

a desktop on the other hand is constantly converting AC at 110V/220V to the various dc supply lines of 24v/12v/5v, and even though each line comes off its own part of the transformer coil, there is still some to-ing-and-fro-ing if the power supply does not have sufficient power supply ripple smoothing capacitors on each supply line - i.e. the usb power buss lines may not be adequately provided with current smoothing and so we get the motor-boating
 
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