Could a faulty usb cable have damaged my Helix?

[Daemien]

So last night when trying to connect my Helix LT via USB, my PC wasn't recognizing the device. I then removed the cable and noticed its metal tip was giving me a light electric shock.

 

As far as I know the cable shouldn't have enough current to noticeably shock me, so is there any way it could have damaged my Helix? After it happened I noticed some static/fizzyness in some patches, although it's probably me being a little paranoid.

 

Since then I switched cables and the new one seems to be behaving normally, although everytime I connect the USB cable I get some static noise. Is this normal and is there any way I can get rid of it?

 

Thanks!

[Daemien]

Another thing I noticed just now.

 

On one particular (and probably very DSP intensive) patch, my Helix is periodically distorting the audio played over the USB input. I can only reproduce this bug/issue on this one patch, all others I tested seem to be working fine.

 

I uploaded an audio sample of the issue I'm having: https://soundcloud.com/user-501817021/usb-input-distortion/s-TB5TR

 

[dragonfet]

I have to shuffle your post around a bit to answer it.

 

On 6/15/2018 at 5:58 PM, Daemien said:

As far as I know the cable shouldn't have enough current to noticeably shock me

 

It most importantly doesn't have enough voltage as USB operates at 5V. You have probably felt a tingle coming from a bad ground. Did you use a laptop with the charger connected? If not, you may have a grounding issue at your PC or one of the connected devices. The metal casing on the USB plug is the ground, so coming to the actual question:

 

On 6/15/2018 at 5:58 PM, Daemien said:

is there any way it could have damaged my Helix?

 

Most likely not. There is a possibility that a damaged cable routes the ground towards one of the data pins, possibly forwarding the grounding error voltage to them. But that would mean that the insulation of one of the data wires broke internally and connected to the cable's shield, which seems unlikely to me.

 

On 6/15/2018 at 5:58 PM, Daemien said:

So last night when trying to connect my Helix LT via USB, my PC wasn't recognizing the device.

[...]

Since then I switched cables and the new one seems to be behaving normally

 

If I shorten your post like this, it adds up perfectly. Maybe the first cable has a broken connection inside and the second one doesn't. Sadly it's hard to diagnose it any further, sometimes the same cable will work with one device and not with another. I can only recommend the obvious: Stick with the one that works.

 

On 6/15/2018 at 5:58 PM, Daemien said:

I get some static noise. Is this normal and is there any way I can get rid of it?

 

It shouldn't be there, but I have noticd that some kind of noise often occurs with USB audio connections. Again, the issue is most often bad grounding. It could be a different device connected to your PC (like a monitor). Also, do you have your Helix and PC connected to the same power outlet? Doing so should help.

 

7 hours ago, Daemien said:

Another thing I noticed just now.

 

On one particular (and probably very DSP intensive) patch, my Helix is periodically distorting the audio played over the USB input. I can only reproduce this bug/issue on this one patch, all others I tested seem to be working fine.

 

I uploaded an audio sample of the issue I'm having: https://soundcloud.com/user-501817021/usb-input-distortion/s-TB5TR

 

 

It sounds like bit distortion to me with the bit rate varying significantly. I haven't heard such artifacts with the Helix before. I recommend you try the same patch and source audio with a different PC to verify it's the Helix and not a driver / OS / DAW issue.