Noise when using heavily distorted patches.

[Jagman13]

First post here and had Helix Native a while now. Most of the time it plays along just fine even if it is a bit of a CPU hog on a fast iMac :/

 

But the real problem I am having is noise being generated from somewhere when I use a heavily distorted and loud patch say PV Panama. When I load it up what appears to be an earth hum appears and no matter what I do I can't get rid of it.. My system and speakers are balanced and I have even used a Passive DI box and lifted the ground and it is still there..

 

Could it be electrical RF coming off the screen of the iMac getting picked up by the pic ups on my guitar? I have moved away to another room and its still there. 

 

Putting a noise gate on it doesn't fix the problem it only stops it when I am not playing the hum is still there and noticeable in the back ground. 

 

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be and how to get rid of it? 

 

Any help is greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[soundog]

Those kinds of noises are maddening and hard to track down. I'm guessing when you use high-gain settings HxN is compressing and boosting any existing noise/hum that was always there, but you didn't notice/hear it. Listen as you increase gain levels (with headphones) to check. You'll need to try to eliminate/change possible sources to see if you can isolate the cause. It sounds like you've already started doing that. Obvious examples: guitar pickups, audio interface, lighting, transformers, AC power quality, other AC stuff on the same shared outlet, etc.

 

FYI, I'm using an iMac here and get some expected hum/noise with high-gain settings — but nothing unexpected, problematic or at the level you're describing. I use a Furman AR-15 Series II voltage regulator/power conditioner in the studio, but that sort of thing may or may not help your situation.

[Jagman13]

Thanks for getting back to me SoundDog, You could be right about a stray earth or interference some where from the wall socket to the pic ups. I will need to spend a bit of time and look to see where it might be. But when you mention the noise being here already and the patch lifting the noise floor, not too sure that is the case as everything else I have recorded without a high gain HXN patch is pristine. 

 

Will look at the voltage and power regulator as well its a small home studio and everything is run from a single source so pretty high chance there is a leak there.. 

 

Thank you.. :) 

[soundog]

Do an experiment. Create a simple patch with your PV Panama, turn off the effects blocks such as distortion. Without playing, turn up the gain on the PV to see if the noise/hum increases incrementally as you do. I still think it may be a matter of noise in your system/guitar/AC that is being amplified by HxN.

 

Remove as many variables as possible and look for a direct correlation.