KVR Audio

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Mon May 23, 2016 3:38 am

I'm having a weird problem with my interface. I'm using the Tascam US-1800. There's this intermittent clicking sound that comes up when
1) the preamps are turned up high and
2) there is a microphone plugged in.

It only happens when both of these conditions are met. If the preamps are turned up high and there's no microphone plugged in, even if there is an XLR cable plugged in, there is no clicking. If there is a microphone plugged in and the preamps are at normal levels, (obviously) there is no clicking, or at least it's lower than the noise floor. I've tried multiple microphones so I don't think the mics are the culprit.

This is what it sounds like: http://picosong.com/BBqj/

Does anyone know what could be causing this? Could it be a power issue? It's plugged into the wall without a surge protector.

spacekid · Post by **spacekid** » Wed May 25, 2016 3:16 am

They seem to have kept their drivers fairly up to date, beside the absence of a windows 10 update, but I'm sure you started there. It kind of sounds like an internal cabling problem to me, if it's not a clock tick from the driver. It will be a hard one to track down. If you have a second computer, maybe try to load things into it and see if you can get the same result with maybe the last listed operating system, if you don't have it already. There is the possibility of a power issue, since the ticks are in a clocking motion. I've had the same issue coming out of my amps before. I would give you my external power supply to try if I could. Here's one that is fairly cheap. You can charge them up and then use them to isolate your sockets, by just running them on battery. Some of them come with power conditioners built in as well. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019804U8?ref ... _dp_asin_1

nineofkings · Post by **nineofkings** » Wed May 25, 2016 4:31 am

I tried unplugging the computer and found that it helped - turned out it was almost certainly the XLR cable crossing paths with the power cable. Apparently they pick up interference that way.

Thanks for your input!

spacekid · Post by **spacekid** » Wed May 25, 2016 6:02 am

Nice find. That can be a huge headache to figure out.

Preamp intermittent clicking?