USB/Scarlet/Monitor = Noise

[MrDowntown]

i'm sure this had been covered a billion times over...and i've done some reading, seen a lot of prescriptions of what could be the cause-fix; power conditioners, usb bricks, changing receptacles in the room/house, bad MoBo on PC...

so, very simple (i think) set up. Kemper & XLR's out to 2i2 USB out to PC and 1/4" outs to monitor

recordings are clean (for the most part), but play back on the monitors is noisy AF... and it's computer clicks, and hisses, and squeals... meh... sounds like \i've mic'd up the inner-workings of the CPU for a movie sound bite...

some things i'm going to try tonight:
1. disconnect any other device from the adjacent usb port(s)
2. try usb brick straight to wall (though this may eliminate noise, i can record at this point as i have no connection to my DAW)
3. try different usb cable
4. update usb drivers
5. update Focusrite drivers

is there a silver bullet here? you dudes are smart... you know a thing or two 'cause you've seen a thing or two...

maybe an Interface that's powered via A/C, not USB?

thanks for any feedback!
MDT

 

[Jack Luminous]

I had some problems with a Scarlet 2i2 similar to yours. What solved mine : using a shorter USB cable with ferrite chokes to suppress RFI/EMI like this one :

 

[vultures]

I use a Kemper into a 2i2 with 2 Monitors. I had issues with my Gen 1 2i2 when first using it on Win7, then again when upgrading to Win10. One thing that helped was plugging directly into a USB 3.0. I don't know if it supports 3.0, but it definitely helped with latency, noise and power. Another thing is I made sure that my Sample Rate and Buffer Size matched from my Scarlett 2i2 settings to my DAW settings in Reaper to the Sound Device Properties in Windows. For some reason, one or more of them can be mismatched. Mine sounded fine while listening to anything, but when I tried to record it had a loud digital hiss like a pissed off android until I made sure they all matched.

 

[MrDowntown]

only had a few minutes last night...

- tried a different USB cable, not necessarily shorter, but did have the chokes at both ends. going to say it may have helped, but don't think it did much. i'll try again tonight. i wonder if the focusrite had either of these, if it would make a difference; a) AC power and/OR b) S/PDIF,
- double checked, sample rates all at 44.1
- one thing i noticed last night, was a message about plugging up to a 2.0 USB port. my comp case has multiple usb's, two of which are on the front, and apparently they aren't 2.0. Don't really see where this would make a diff, but i believe the port(s) on the back of the box are 2.0, so i'll try that tonight.

thanks for suggestions!

 

[legend71]

I returned mine for this same reason. Too noisy!

 

[MrDowntown]

..noise is continuing... it's actually being transferred, or picked up, through the interface and into/by daw.

Had an AV guy tell me this week my Focusrites power source (which is my PC) needed to be plugged into the same power outlet as my monitor, Kemper... haven't tried it yet. Anyone heard of this? He also recommended a power conditioner...which like most opinions, they're varied on whether this actually cuts down on noise. I understand they're a good idea to have but.... don't know if they clean the noise (though that's one of the things it's supposed to do)

Search for quite continues...