Speaker Chatter

A fellow SONAR user and good music friend has been having trouble with "speaker chatter." Sometimes it's loud, sometimes it's not, but it's always there. He's tried everything we can think of to solve the problem but so far nothing had worked. His computer it relatively new and far exceeds all the specs needed to run SONAR.
 
Tonight I took my Windows laptop with Platinum and also Producer X2 to his house. He opened his SONAR on his computer and the chatter was still there. Then, we hooked up my laptop to his interface, speakers, etc. and there was not a trace of chatter.  We recorded a little, listed to it, and could not hear any chatter at any time. Then, we unhooked the USB from my laptop and went back into his computer and the chatter started immediately. Several other tests did the same thing.
 
So now we know it's not the software, we know it's not the interface, and we know it is not the speakers. It's his computer. We've made a step forward in eliminating the rest of the DAW but we don't know how to find the specific cause in his computer. We thought that it might be a bad USB port or connection, but it chatters on all USB ports on his computer. We thought that it might be the power supply but he is very reluctant to buy a new one with no advance clue if that will solve it or not.
 
I'm sure that many of the experienced DAW users here have experienced the same thing, so I'm hoping we can get some more ideas on what to check and how to check it without just going out and buying computer parts to try.
 
We'd love to hear all ideas, experiences, and suggestions you have because he have run out of solutions that we can actually try without replacing computer parts.
 
Thanks in advance

DS

I found this description he gave of his computer:
x3 studio, with Windows 7 Ultimate, Focusrite 6i6, Asus Puter with AMD FX (tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor, 3.50GHZ, 8 GB RAM, 64 Bit OS.  (I wonder if the 8 gb of Ram is not big enough to match everything else. My laptop has 16 gb, but all my other specs are less than what his machine has.  I think mine just has a 2.5 or 2.6 processor. I'm using Windows 10 and he is using Windows 7. I don't know if that would matter or not with X3 Studio.)
 
I guess the "chatter" could best be described as what sounds like some kind of electrical interference. I used to hear something similar on an old computer that wasn't even a DAW, but the explanation was that it was interference from CB radio transmissions of passing cars or maybe police radio transmissions.
 
It sounds a lot like static, but it can be faint or it can be very noticeable...it varies. It's not a hum like I've sometimes heard from fluorescent lights or other electrical interference. It sounds like a static-y chatter. We always called noise like that chatter, but maybe that's not a common term. It's not a buzz, not a hum, it's not a uniform sound like that. The volume and intensity varies.  Maybe one way to describe it is what I'd expect Morse code to sound like if it was speeded up a lot. Tonight it wasn't too bad, but at other times it's very annoying. Sometimes it's so bad it makes trying to record or even do playback too irritating to even try.
 
Someone suggested a USB filter, but as I mentioned above, every USB port does it. When we unplug from his computer the noise stops. We can unplug from his computer and plug the USB into my Focusrite 2i2 and it works fine...no noise. Someone said it was electrical interference that the Yamaha 50 speakers were picking up, which didn't make sense, and we ruled that out tonight. It's not SONAR. We ruled that out because we ran my Platinum through his interface and mine also to his speakers and there was no static or noise. We know it's not the speakers, interfaces, the USB cables, or SONAR. We've eliminated everything down to his computer. We could randomly try a lot of stuff, but he's going to have to buy any new parts and naturally he doesn't want to do that until we can narrow it down to some specific component of his computer.
 
This clue may be important, or it may not be, but he is also having some unpredictable drop-outs. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. I wondered if it might have something to do with CPU usage and if the two were related, or coming from the same source.
 
Other than recording a sample of the static-chatter, this is about as well as I can describe it. We've been working with it off and on for over a week and the best we've done is narrow it down to the computer itself.
 
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks!
DS

Can you try this...

Plug some headphones in to the offending computer - do you still hear the chatter/static?

Can you use some other speakers?

This could help identify whether it is the speakers or computer

You mention about plugging the USB from his PC to yours - what do you mean by this, what are you swapping over?

Another thing to try is to disable ALL plugins (I think your press the E key) - some plugins that are not registered emit a chatter/static sound so it is possible he has one on his system that you don't have on yours

I had issues with constant low level noise on a previous laptop due to earthing problems combined with hdd activity. The only way to get rid of the noise was to unearth the power supply, which is never good!

 
Are you running balanced outputs to your monitors/monitor amp? Do you have a DI with an earth lift switch that you could put between the interface outputs and the monitors to try?
 
THOUGH THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT RECCOMENED AS A LONG TERM SOLUTION ,  if you have a mains earth lift adapter you could try it briefly to at least check whether this is causing the problem.

Just a thought, based on the fact that he is having drop outs as well..

Does he have a wireless card fitted? Fry disabling it.

Try increasing his buffers.

When you used your laptop, did you have it plugged in or was it running on batteries?

Some time ago I had an Asus / AMD that would do a lot of strange things if I used the supplied "overdrive (overclocking)" options supplied by the manufacture. I only remember that I could not run with the overdrive enabled. Don't know.

I use a Roland GR-55. If I have the audio outputs and the USB hooked up at the same time, I get a high frequency noise from the USB. Unplugging either the audio (and allowing the GR-55 to be the audio interface), or disconnecting the USB cable eliminates the noise. Is it possible you have a similar situation in one of the pieces of USB gear being used?

JustGotPaid
 
We can probably check for loose wires, but neither one of us is knowledgeable enough to start working with or testing the motherboard. If he has to try that I think he should take it back to the guy who built it. This is a special build DAW. This is not a desktop tower from Best Buy or New Egg or some other computer place with a tower ready to go out of the box. It was all put together locally and very well could have a loose wire or a deficiency in shielding or grounding.
 
DS

If opening up the case voids the warranty then by all means take it back. Personally after all of the testing that you did and the fact that it strongly points to the computer I would take it back.  If he is a reputable dealer he will work with you in solving the problem.

I too have a similar problem with SONAR only.  My noise is directly related to activity on my PC... it is not being recorded but is always there but only over the powered speakers and not the headphones.  When SONAR is not running, the noise goes away.  Other audio programs do not create this noise (that is, MEDIA CENTER, SOUNDFORGE or plugins that can run outside of SONAR).  The density of the noise changes when I change the views within SONAR. 
 
I too would describe the sound as CHATTER and not a constant noise... the chatter sounds like it is related to PC activity and not just random over the air noise.
 
I have added a power condition to my system to no avail.  I have changed all my speaker cables to BALANCED TRS. I have changed powered monitors from M AUDIO to JBLs.
 
This noise only shows up when SONAR is in FOCUS on my system.  If SONAR is running and I minimize the application, the noise goes away.
 
I have given up on fixing this since it doesn't affect the audio at all, just the monitoring and share my experience

jimkleban
I too have a similar problem with SONAR only.  My noise is directly related to activity on my PC... it is not being recorded but is always there but only over the powered speakers and not the headphones.  When SONAR is not running, the noise goes away.  Other audio programs do not create this noise (that is, MEDIA CENTER, SOUNDFORGE or plugins that can run outside of SONAR).  The density of the noise changes when I change the views within SONAR. 
 
I too would describe the sound as CHATTER and not a constant noise... the chatter sounds like it is related to PC activity and not just random over the air noise.
 
I have added a power condition to my system to no avail.  I have changed all my speaker cables to BALANCED TRS. I have changed powered monitors from M AUDIO to JBLs.
 
This noise only shows up when SONAR is in FOCUS on my system.  If SONAR is running and I minimize the application, the noise goes away.
 
I have given up on fixing this since it doesn't affect the audio at all, just the monitoring and share my experience

You aren't by chance running a Nividia graphics card ? I smell a connection....

If you're powering the interfaces with USB, do you have an AC power supply for either interface?

One other thing, (I'm not sure if this was already said), is to make sure the onboard audio is turned off, which if it was set up as DAW, should be.

MacFurse
One other thing, (I'm not sure if this was already said), is to make sure the onboard audio is turned off, which if it was set up as DAW, should be.

I use onboard audio for everything except SONAR, with my 16x08 used exclusively for SONAR.  My speakers aren't chattering.
 
If the DAW in question is sharing the same USB hub, whether internal or external, with external drives or other high demand gear ...

In post #1 you said the USB cables were eliminated, but in post #6 you said two different USB cables, so not eliminated. Just checking ...