Does your Quad-Capture buzz?

JazzSinger


I am trying find out if mine is broken or if ALL Quad-Captures have this fault.
Please try this when you have a moment:
 
Turn HI-Z (INPUT 1) on the rear of the device ON. (VERY IMPORTANT)
Turn SENS 1L up to about 3 o'clock. At least one segment lights.
Turn MIX to INPUT
Turn OUTPUT to 12 o'clock.
 
Plug in headphones and on mine I hear a kind of mains buzzing.
This happens on both my laptops, regardless of whether I am running off mains or batteries.
It even happens when I put a short-circuited jack in INPUT 1L !!!
 
This does NOT happen on my Edirol UA-25EX nor on my UA-101. As I turn sensitivity up on those, I get more hiss but no buzzing.
 
I am trying to decide whether I should ask for an exchange or just get my money back and look for a different model.

Verified. I get the same buzzing. A slight pop just before 3 o'clock and then solid buzz. Strange. 

Edit: I get the same behavior with knob set to playback, it's not as loud but there's that small click and solid buzz just before 3 o'clock... Lame.

JazzSinger


Ah. I thought the pops were from a scratchy pot on mine.
Apparently not. Thanks for the additional info.
 
Methinks,  back it goes. 

Glad I could help.. and thanks because now I am aware of this.
I hope this is something that can be rectified with a firmware update because I can't send mine back.

BUMP

Can anyone else who has a Quad Capture take a few minutes and test out the steps the OP wrote. It'd be nice to have a little more verification as to whether or not this is a widespread issue.

Thanks

Ok, The OCD in me has more details to share:

#1. Turn Hi-Z On
#2. Go to the Quad Capture Software Panel
#3. Turn up the Sens Knob for preamp one (in software)
#4. When the knob hits 42, listen and/or watch for a pop/click. The meter will jump. After listening closer, I can hear the buzz sound before reaching 42 on the dial so I think that's just the normal noise of the preamp when it's in Hi-Z mode. It's just strange that it seems to abruptly boost up at 42 along with a pop/click.

Also, after messing around I noticed that there are pops/clicks on both preamps at the exact same spots in both Hi-Z and Mic/Line mode (Although you'll need to crank it up pretty loud to hear it in Mic/Line mode) Anyway, the spots on both dials are: 16, 29, 42...

Well.. That was fun. In conclusion, I believe this is probably just a hardware quirk that all quad captures have. 

Anyway, I hope this has been educational. I'm going to get back to making music now.  :)

I cannot record my MIM Fender Jazz nor my single-coil Epiphone Casino without some background buzzing on the track. Slow blues numbers are proving to be a particular problem.

My old Edirol UA-101 and Cakewalk UA-25EX work fine with both instruments, so it's not due to the different gain ranges.

Those segments do NOT indicate gain. They indicate input signal level. Those two segments you are seeing is the buzzing, so yours does it too. We are clearly seeing a general problem.

JazzSinger


I cannot record my MIM Fender Jazz nor my single-coil Epiphone Casino without some background buzzing on the track. Slow blues numbers are proving to be a particular problem.

My old Edirol UA-101 and Cakewalk UA-25EX work fine with both instruments, so it's not due to the different gain ranges.

Those segments do NOT indicate gain. They indicate input signal level. Those two segments you are seeing is the buzzing, so yours does it too. We are clearly seeing a general problem.

LOL, no I realised I'd put gain rather than input level.  You are of course correct.

Yes I'm confirming identical behaviour but I haven't found anything yet that doesn't record well with either Hi-Z engaged or out.

btw my Mobo is fine but like I say if you amplified any mobo enough you'd be able to hear something of the inner workings.

If I'm right at the very least the input sensitivity range is too wide, if you are right there's going to be a big product recall or firmware/driver update coming up for Roland.

I second that Jonbouy!

Update: My technical support guy here at Roland UK has been very helpful so far, and he has now referred this to his colleagues in Japan.  So we are awaiting a response from them which may take a little while.

He stated his test unit did not produce 'anything out of the ordinary' in terms of noise.

That equates to two segments registered on the led gauge with output set at max, and mix knob set at 12 o'clock and sensitivity full up with Hi-Z engaged and the ground lift switch setting set to produce the least noise.

He was also interested to know whether I was using a laptop or tower.  So that may be worth mentioning if you are contributing to this thread.

Mines a tower as you can probably gather from my specs.

Here is a quick rundown of my hardware setup.

I have a tower PC.

I have one surge protector plugged into a nearby wall outlet.

Everything is plugged into that: PC, Display, Monitors, External USB HD Power supply, Desk lamp.

Scenario 1: Quad Capture with Hi-Z Off = No hum/buzz whatsoever. No segment lights on at full gain.

Scenario 2: Quad Capture with Hi-Z On = Steady hum/buzzing, Two segment lights on at full gain. Note: Ground lift setting makes no difference.

In contrast, I have a Steinberg CI1 USB interface and using the same usb cable on the same usb port, both Hi-Z and Mic/Line mode sound like Scenario 1.

Hey Jonbouy, Thanks for the update.
 
Can I gather that to mean the 60 cycle hum/buzz when in Hi-Z mode is from the internals of the Quad Capture because of the impedance and not from some kind of external source that I'd need to hunt down? I wish I understood this stuff better but I assume that's what the folks at Roland are getting at.. If so that's fine, As long as it rules out other issues.

Anyway.. Back to work. :)

Jonbouy


I'm suspecting as I first did that the impedance range being higher means the previous models would be as noisy at the same range.  It's confirmed as not being mains hum from the unit as the behaviour is the same on a battery powered laptop.

I'd still be interested to hear from other users that were having trouble with signal to noise ratio whilst using a guitar or something else that actually requires Hi-Z though.

As I say the entire internet seems remarkably quiet about it which I don't think would be the case by now if there were real issues here.

I may yet be wrong of course...

Yeah, that seems logical to me. The curiosity in me would still like to understand why the Hi-Z hums rather than hisses like the Hi-Z on my other interface, but all in all I guess (for me) it doesn't really matter. I've found that if I keep the knob at 12 o'clock or less it's not noticeable, and I typically have the pre set in the 10 or 11 o' clock range. If it ever does become a issue for me I also have an external pre/di so I can just go line in. My interest in this topic has been more a question of: "Should it do that?" rather than "This isn't acceptable"

Yeah it is pretty quiet. I haven't found any mention of this elsewhere either. The only thing I could even relate to this in anyway is a video review of the Octa-Capture (which I understand has the same pres) where the reviewer mentions that the pres are slightly noisy when phantom power is on. 

But as far as Hi-Z is concerned, I think most people won't notice this or if they do notice it they won't think it's out of the ordinary. I know I didn't until I found this thread and started testing things out.

audiyo

...a video review of the Octocapture (which I understand has the same pres) where the reviewer mentions that the pres are slightly noisy when phantom power is on.  

Thanks for that info, audiyo. This again is possibly overlooked because most condenser mics are high output. But one that is somewhat lower output may run into this problem. 
 
Do they say what kind of noise? (Hiss, buzz)

Hi guys. New to this forum but I have been reading about the quad capture with a view to buying (newbie to the whole recording scene)Not sure if it is of any use but I read a couple of user reviews from Amazon US/UK that had mentioned the noise problem. Quotes from the reviews below. "I found that anything above 0 volume on the analog outputs actually INCREASES INPUT NOISE. So I got myself a pair of Behringer MS40 with digital inputs. Then I found out the hard way that the digital outputs do not support 192 kHz, only 96kHz. So i can't monitor with reasonable input noise while the unit is operating in 192kHz. So effectively, this is a 96kHz unit if you want about 8 dB lower input noise." "The only issue I've had is too much USB noise in the form of high pitched hum & other weird artifacts. Went through all the troubleshooting you could imagine, analyzed my jacks for ground loops, etc. I solved it by disconnecting the Quad from the computer & plugging it into a powered USB hub instead. Instant relief."

Has anyone tried this with the Octacapture?

I know the Octa-Capture has a ground terminal on the back. (not the Quad-Cature though) I've read where some guys have had good success silencing the Octa-Capture by grounding the unit. Might be worth a try on the Quad-Capture.