EDIT: I'm an idiot. It was the noise knob. Please disregard. lol
 
So I've finally found some time to start poking around at my work in progress and noticed a hiss even with playback stopped. I did some hunting around for the culprit (turned off any armed tracks, input echo, a/b'd various PC power buttons on busses, etc). Turns out it was coming from the instance of the new Tape Sim I had inserted to my drum bus. It is definitely making the drums sound pretty awesome but I find it odd that it is creating hiss even with playback stopped and no live signal feeding it.
 
Is this to be expected? If so I'm a little concerned because although the sim sounds great it's an awful lot of hiss for one instance (especially with no playback). It may be possible other effects are contributing but the hiss disappears immediately when disabling the TS.
 
Just trying to get an idea of what I'm dealing with here. I recall the old Cakewalk plugin tape sim had a hiss/noise control that would add hiss as desired. Perhaps there is a similar control where I can remove the hiss without removing the awesome sauce with the PC version.
 
Cheers and thanks.

Never noticed a problem with it in X3e. There is a big NOISE knob on the plug-in which I leave all the way to the left though.

Thanks. I'll check that out. I currently have the knobs linked because I thought it was a effect vs. output gain type leveling going on but perhaps I should look at other ways to control the resulting level or something.
 
I still find it odd to be getting that much noise with playback stopped. I thought effects more or less stopped working when stopped unless echo was engaged. Even the high gain guit sims don't make any noise but I guess that might be because of the internal gate.
 
I need to ask though... was this a problem BEFORE X3e? I'm on the e patch but perhaps something went wonky somewhere with the update.

From X3c patch http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013331/SONAR-X3c-Update

• Resolved an issue with the Tape Emulator emitting a gradually increasing 60hz tone when patched into a track

After this patch never noticed any noise from the plug-in but I do not turn the Noise knob up.

Any chance echo input is on for that channel and you're picking up something external?

Thanks scook. I'll have to look into this further. I'm actually editing right now so it doesn't matter but wanted to see what might be up.
 
Hi, Craig. I had been recording bass tracks and the echo was engaged but that was the first thing I checked. It made no difference and they aren't feeding into that buss (or related at all) anyway. I need to rebuild this project from an effects/mixing standpoint anyway but wanted to get my brain working on a solution before I hit that point.
 
No biggie but I will have to fix it. Might just be this project. I started it before I updated so maybe that's the problem. I can't remember if I inserted the Tape Sim before or after the update but I think it was after. Darned nice sounding tool though. Just that hiss is a little obnoxious.
 
Cheers.

Okay... I'm a complete and utter dumbass. As scook pointed out there is a huge "Noise" knob. I had forgotten how to work the bloody plug and didn't even look at it so thought it was one of the linkable knobs. Turning down the big arsed knob that is plainly labeled "Noise" did indeed somehow magically reduce the noise. Imagine that. lulz
 
This is what happens when I stay away from the DAW for so long and jump back in thinking I know it all. D'oh. Sorry guys.

Beep I was going to say the noise is from the noise knob but something tells me you know that now. I even checked it out. I have forgotten so much stuff it could fill an entire library. 
 
You also gave me a nice little laugh. Not at you but with you. 

The silly thing is scook nailed it and I kept spinning my wheels unnecessarily.
 
And by "silly" I mean "derpy".
 
lulz
 
I'll get my head back in the game. I promise.

Like scook, I never turn up the noise control and had forgotten about it. But sometimes the Law of Unintended Consequences works in one's favor: this thread reminded me that there's a noise source in Sonar, which I need from time to time. A little noise, a little normalization...done!