MAnalyzer Question (New user) .... not sure if I should be seeing this much "noise"

[rrz]

Hi everyone - I installed MAnalyzer today (upgraded as well) on my Windows 10 machine and am running it as a plug-in within Maschine (Native-Instruments). I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 as my audio interface via USB. With everything setup and nothing playing, I ended up seeing a lot of "noise" in the spectral display which I was not expecting. I was expecting it to be blank.

To confirm the audio interface was working currently, I played A-440 note and did see a spike peek through the noise floor at 440 so I know the audio interface and overall setup is working. I then unplugged the inputs going into the audio interface and nothing changed. I also confirmed that the internal mic is not the source (i.e., room sound did not affect the spectrum). To isolate that it's the input source from the Scarlett .... whenever I changed the input source in Maschine (i.e., setting the input source for the MAnalyzer plugin) from the Scarlett to a different internal input on the PC that is unused, the spectrum went completely blank ... which is what I was expecting initially.

I attached a screenshot showing the spectral analysis with nothing playing. My best guess is that there is some other audio bleeding in somehow but I'm not sure how to track it down. Any suggestions? I'm not an expert with audio tools like this, but trying my best!

Thanks in advance.

Analyzer.PNG

[marks-a-whybikky]

… any reverb Plug-in? The noise is very quiet, so you online see it, but you do not hear it ….

[rrz]

Hi - I checked and there aren't any other plugins running. I started a new project and only loaded the MAnalyzer plug-in.

I see though how a reverb plugin could have been the culprit. Should I expect a spectral output like my screenshot when nothing is playing?

Thanks again

[rrz]

Hi everyone - I've been looking into my setup and thought I'd provide additional screenshots that give some insight into what could be causing the noise floor I'm seeing. That said, the floor I'm seeing might be absolutely normal (I'm not an expert in this area) so if that's the case, please let me know and I really appreciate your help.

Here is a sequence of screen shots as I successively add potential noise sources:

1. Focusrite Only with NO inputs plugged in and both RL Gains at Zero

1. Focusrite Only with NO inputs plugged in and both RL Gains at Zero.PNG

2. Same as 1 but with both RL Gains at 50 Percent

2. Same as 1 but with both RL Gains at 50 Percent.PNG

3. Same as 2 but RL Interconnects plugged into Focusrite but other ends Unconnected

3. Same as 2 but RL Interconnects plugged into Focusrite but other ends Unconnected.PNG

4. Same as 3 but RL interconnects plugged into Mixer turned Off

4. Same as 3 but RL interconnects plugged into Mixer turned Off.PNG

5. Same as 4, but Mixer turned On

5. Same as 4, but Mixer turned On.PNG

6. Same as 5 but Mixer turned On and Playing C3 on synth

6. Same as 5 but Mixer turned On and Playing C3 on synth.PNG

I've ruled out the synth ... same results if the synth is plugged in and if not plugged in.

Thanks again.

[mabian]

Have you checked if a different Analyzer (ex. Voxengo SPAN or Blue Cat Analyzer) reports the same thing?

- Mario

[vectorwarrior]

You have normalise enabled in the analyser. Could it be that? Disable the blued out button in the toolbar at the top on the right side of the bar, the one with the arrow and wall.

[rrz]

Hi Mario - Great suggestion. I checked both Span and Blue Cat (screenshots below). Span showed nothing which was encouraging until I played a note and it was still blank .... I suspect I haven't set it up correctly and I'll look at it more later today and checkout the manual. BlueCat did have information in the spectral analysis (screenshot below) which I'm still trying to interpret.

For reference I took another screenshot of MAnalyzer when I tried the other two.

-Raymond

[rrz]

You have normalise enabled in the analyser. Could it be that? Disable the blued out button in the toolbar at the top on the right side of the bar, the one with the arrow and wall.

Thanks for pointing out the normalize setting in the Analyser. I did disable it, but the entire spectral analysis went blank. I was hoping that I was now in good shape, but when I played a note the spectrum remained blank. It's possible I haven't setup something correctly, so I'll look at it more later today.

Thanks again
-Raymond

[MeldaProduction]

You have normalise enabled in the analyser. Could it be that? Disable the blued out button in the toolbar at the top on the right side of the bar, the one with the arrow and wall.

Thanks for pointing out the normalize setting in the Analyser. I did disable it, but the entire spectral analysis went blank. I was hoping that I was now in good shape, but when I played a note the spectrum remained blank. It's possible I haven't setup something correctly, so I'll look at it more later today.

Thanks again
-Raymond

That's correct, you see nothing, so it's silent . The normalization just makes sure "the level doesn't matter".

[rrz]

Thank you!