Static noise racket after plugging in USB port

Hello,

I just got Elements 7. Trying it out to see if I like it and had plans to upgrade to Cubase 7.5.
So far not doing so good.
I have a new Behringer Xenyx QX1832 Mixer with usb/interface.
When I play back I hear static that sounds like when you were a kid
and you had a little transistor radio and one speaker went out!
It also does a clipping sound. Distortion and cutting in and out.
Levels and gain and all that are set low, still does not help.
As soon as I unplug the USB it stops.
Have tried different chords and ports etc etc.
Have done some recording in the past with other software so this aint my first rodeo, haha
I have not even recorded anything yet on Cubase. I get all these issues just from listening to the
drum track that is already on there and the click track!
Can you help please and thank you!

There are three ways that I know of where you can get weird noises like that just from plugging in a USB device:

  1. Underpowered USB port. If you have a bunch of USB devices plugged into the same hub, some interfaces aren’t able to draw enough consistent current and it often results in weird noises and unpredictable performance. You can rule this out by plugging the interface directly into your PC (ideally into a USB 2.0 port if you have one. They’re usually black or yellow vs. Blue which is for USB 3)

  2. Inappropriate USB cable. Not all USB cables are alike. If you don’t use the cable that shipped with your interface, you might be using one that doesn’t meet spec requirements for USB 2.0 audio. This can also result in strange noise and unpredictable behavior.

  3. THIS IS THE MOST COMMON/LIKELY ONE. Ground loops. Extremely common issue, unfortunately not always a “quick fix” situation. If you’ve ruled out the first two situations, you’re very likely running into a ground loop problem, and you might need to do some experimenting. Do a web search for this for more information: studio ground loop

sounds more like an asio driver/buffer size issue rather than hardware or both perhaps
also i know there are issues with cubase not seeing usb/midi keyboards unless they are plugged in BEFORE starting cubase. perhaps same thing with the mixer?

The ground loop, that is interesting as I believe there is possibly a ground issue in my house
that we have not been able to locate. When the heater/air cond. unit turns on sometimes our lights
flicker. I see some boxes called Hum Eliminators. Where would that plug in? Are they USB?
Is the buffer size located in the settings under the driver tab and if so what should I set it at?

I was just reading about ground loop and that doesn’t really sound like the problem. What I have is crackly noise, distortion. It says ground loop is more of a hum and I do have a little bit of that but this is another problem.

I have one of those, or something in the same line or products (mines 12ch, records 16ch via USB). But I had to send the first two back because the buttons and some jack sockets were dodgy. For example, the first one had crackly control room outputs when I wiggled the wires and also one of the EQ buttons didn’t quite make contact so it kept bridging in and out randomly. The second, very similar, a bunch of the routing buttons didn’t work well and again kept crackling in and out. I was pretty frustrated! I purchased through Thommann and each time they were quick to respond, paying for return postage. Finally on the third I asked them to test it out before sending and fingers crossed it’s been fine since it arrived (early this year).

So, check by wiggling all your wires/connectors/plugs and also all of the buttons…

Mike.

I just had a similar problem- computer noise, sounds like static or how the OP described the sound- broken transistor radio- coming through a UR44. The sounds corresponded to disk access, mouse movement and video activity.

I tried a ground lift on the computer, which made no difference.

What did work here was connecting the outputs to the speakers (Event 20/20 powered speakers) using balanced cables. TRS (tip-ring-sleeve; aka Stereo) 1/4 inch cables is what I used to test, when I saw that it worked I bought a pair of TRS to XLR cables. Dead silent now.

Obviously this only works if your device and speaker have outputs and inputs that accept balanced lines.

I’m not using speakers, just running through the headphones for recording purposes. It’s not the chords or anything of that notion. Checked all those, tried different ones all the basic stuff you think of first.

And that’s why one should not use usb for midi, but use midi DIN connections as they use optocouplers.

What precisely do you mean when you say you checked all the cords? What did you check them for?

Do these sounds come through the headphones anytime the USB is connected, or only during playback, or at some other time?

What are your system specs? What machine, OS etc?

In any case, this sounds like an issue with your hardware, not Cubase, so I’ll move it to the right forum for that.

Hehe, I just found this! I wondered and google revealed…

Mike.

Nice find.

There are some other devices out there too. Thanks for the tip about this “google” apparatus- where in the world did you find that?! :stuck_out_tongue: :laughing: