sheehanje Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 On my second day with the Helix and found an issue with S/PDIF connectivity. Hooked it up to my Focusrite Scarlet 18i20 - which is a middle of the road interface. Kept getting clicks and real short cutouts. The lock light on the Scarlet would faintly dim then come back. So, searching everything on the internet, I tried every suggestion I could find - even ran to the store to grab a shorter cable. Everything was set perfect - sample rate, clock source.. Finally went to try unplugging and plugging back in the SPDIF cable and noticed it had a small current running through it (not quit a shock, but I could tell it was live). I'll be.. A ground loop.. After trying the Lift/Grnd settings on the Helix to no avail, I ran a lead from another outlet in another room and plugged in the Focusrite to it and the clicks/pops/cutouts went right away.... Problem is I don't want to keep a lead running across 2 rooms - so I will need to find a way to solve this. I know for 1/4" chords there is a ton of stuff to solve ground loops, but what do I do for S/PDIF? I'm really not sure if the issue is with the Helix or the Focusrite - I've used other equipment via that interface with no issue - but ground loops are tricky things sometimes. I'm going fine comb everything tomorrow to make sure I'm not missing anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joepeggio Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Is there cable or sat tv near your setup. My cable TV line had like 40 volts bleeding to my stereo. Weird things happen to me it seems like the power in that room or something on that circuit is bleeding some voltage to ground or neutral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheehanje Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Is there cable or sat tv near your setup. My cable TV line had like 40 volts bleeding to my stereo. Weird things happen to me it seems like the power in that room or something on that circuit is bleeding some voltage to ground or neutral. No - But I do have a lot of equipment loaded into one small room - so can be a number of things. I see they sell RCA isolators - wonder if it will work with a 75ohm cable. One thing I do know is keeping the Focusrite plugged into the Helix causes it to disconnect every once in a while from the computer (it drops the USB connection). Very odd. If I unplug the Helix the disconnect doesn't happen any more. I can just use either XLR or 1/4" jacks to get it all hooked up but I was hoping to save 2 interfaces as they are at a premium - especially if I mic up drums... I know the Scarlett series is consumer grade equipment - and the Helix is more mid level Pro Series equipment, but I sometimes wonder if any of the equipment I buy will just work for once - lol. Luckily I'm have much greater success with my live rig - Helix is working great there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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