[MikeParticipant]

I have to use the USB because the USB is what sends the mic, guitar and backing track audio to Zoom. In Zoom, I select the ZED as the “microphone”
What is a Qu ?

[MikeParticipant]

Well yes that is true, I do use them all at the same time when shooting.
However, and I did say this, the noise is present when nothing is connected to the mixer except the USB, hence the reason I know the noise is related to the USB.

No USB, no noise.
Add USB, activate USB as audio input in windows, get noise – it’s as simple as that.

[MikeParticipant]

wow you completely lost me there.. The audio comes from the laptop (which is a separate computer from where Zoom is running) I only use the laptop to play backing tracks to the mixer, and the mixer sends that audio via the USB to the other computer that has Zoom.

Are you saying to connect a USB cable from the laptop to the mixer? How does audio go from the USB into the mixer? and then if the mixer’s USB port is occupied by that connection, how does it get sent to the other computer?

But more importantly, it’s not the laptop’s connection to the mixer that is causing the noise because again, the noise is present even when the laptop isn’t plugged into ST2, so it seems like a moot point from my perspective.

[MikeParticipant]

Yes, that’s correct, the headphone out from the laptop.

Why would I want the USB to send audio to the ST2 channel? Not following what you’re saying here. I want audio from ST2 (and the other channels) to be sent from the USB to the computer (which they are).

[MikeParticipant]

Hi Keith, thank you, really appreciate getting a reply directly from A&H about this issue. I’ll try to answer your questions to the best of my level of knowledge as I’m not a guru:

Different grounding between the connected equipment – you mention the laptop was running on battery, but is it disconnected from the mains?
For the troubleshooting, I disconnected everything from the laptop, including the power, and I brought it close to the mixer and plugged in a few USB cables to test, including the one I use on the desktop machine.

Is there anything else connected to the USB bus?
What do you mean when you say “USB bus” If you mean are there any other devices in the chain, then no, the USB goes directly from the mixer to the computer, or laptop in the case of the troubleshooting.

How are the cameras powered?
The camera, when in use is connected to its power supply, not battery, but again, the noise is present when there is no camera.

What are all the connections to the ZED?
See attached photo. Mic in M1, Guitar in M3, MIDI player in ST1, Laptop in ST2, USB to computer, AUX out to peavey power head to speakers, Main XLR outs to video camera, Phones to headphones

Is all connected equipment (including the speakers) earthed correctly?
I don’t understand about this question

The cable – are you using the supplied cable?
No, I do not have the supplied cable. I’m using a longer USB cable that is able to reach from the rack to the desktop machine. But the noise also happens with shorter USB cables (when I tested with the laptop)

Does it have a ferrite bead?
Had no idea what that was until I googled it just now. The long USB cable does not have one, don’t recall if any of the short ones did, but I’ll go back and look. If I find one with a ferrite bead, I’ll try testing with the laptop and report back.

The ZED itself – Do you have any gains turned up?
See the attached photo.

Are you using DI inputs (which use a different circuit and have 26dB boost switches on the rear)?
Not sure what you mean here. On the guitar input, depending on the output level of the guitar being used, sometimes I use the boost switch on that channel, and sometimes I don’t.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[MikeParticipant]

Well, the thing is, if you look at those posts on the gearslutz forum, they seem to be complaining about the same issue, and those posts were many years ago, I’m not sure when Windows 10 came out, but then again, the laptop I tried it on is Windows 7, not 10 and it’s got the hiss noise too..

[MikeParticipant]

In the audio input set up menu on at least Win10 machines in an advance setting menu there is an option box to check labeled enhanced audio or close to that.
I had already gone in and disabled any kind of sound enhancement, bass, surround and all that stuff; I don’t think it actually exists for the recording devices as it does for playback devices, but it any case it’s disabled.

doesnt the Z10 have a driver for windoze?
I’m not familiar with any drivers for the ZED, seems to just be plug n play in Windows 10?

but shouldnt he set everything to the Z10 rate for usb not try to change it in windoze
What should it be set to?

[MikeParticipant]

Yes, did try several USB cables.

I’m not understanding your question about the headphone output; can you explain a bit? You mean output audio from the computer into the mixer? If so, which input on the mixer? And why? Because I’m using the mixer to send audio, not to receive it.

[MikeParticipant]

ST2 input level control has no effect on the noise.

The noise does not present itself until I activate the ZED as an input device, i.e., as soon as I open the Sound Settings window and choose the ZED, then the noise kicks in. If I change the input device to something else, the noise stops.

[MikeParticipant]

The only connection from the mixer and the main computer is the USB. As noted, the noise is still present if all inputs are disconnected and it’s only the mixer and the USB.

I use the laptop to play tracks, and the audio output from the laptop is going into ST2.

It’s a ZED10FX model.

So yes, ST2 is turned up because that’s the input from the laptop. I’m not sure what the “playback level” is as I don’t think I use that?

In the main Zoom computer, the “speaker” I use for Zoom is a connected HDTV. For regular computer usage, I have a pair of powered speakers.

[MikeParticipant]

Hi Mike C (funny, those are my initials too!)
During troubleshooting, when I did test with the laptop, the laptop was running on battery actually.

I connect the headphones to the headphone jack n the mixer and can hear the noise. If I unplug the USB, the noise stops everywhere. I also hear the noise through the main XLR outs, as well as the Aux out, which I use for a monitor mix for the musician giving the lesson.

The audio samples I provided were panned left (track) and right (guitar) from a previous recording. That audio was captured to a video camera via the mixer’s main outs. The strange thing about all of this is that the noise is tied to the USB connection, however the noise isn’t transmitted through the USB connection into the computer. I’m baffled and it seems most others are that reported this issue are as well.

[MikeParticipant]

I’ve just discovered that the noise is not transmitted into the computer via the USB. I just did a test recording with the USB as the source and there is no noise whatsoever. So it seems while we can hear it coming out the speakers, headphones, etc., the person on the other end of the Zoom call will not be hearing it. Nevertheless, it’s still quite annoying and I’d like to be rid of it if possible.

[MikeParticipant]

no my levels are not excessive at all; as others have stated in the other forum, the noise is heard even with all levels down, and nothing plugged into the mixer except for the USB.

I don’t know why you can’t see my linked posts to the gearslutz forum, they work just fine for me.

My next step is to remove the ZED from the room that it’s in and place it in a different room, connect a laptop to the USB, and some headphones and see if it’s still there.

[MikeParticipant]

How could you not hear the noise? It’s very obvious, maybe you don’t have your speakers turned up..

The noise only got louder when I connected the ZED to the laptop and increased the volume on the ZED. For some reason, the noise does not get louder when connected to the Win 10 desktop machine.

The gearslutz forum posts describe exactly the same issue – noise or hiss with the USB connection. What do you mean they took you somewhere else? Yes it’s a different forum.

Here’s another MP3 file of the noise.. This was from a past recording. I haven’t actually tried to capture the noise via the USB in the computer. The noise on these MP3s came from the main outs into a video camera.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[Author]

Posts