Topic: Strange pops

[brandont_h]

I just got my D8 back from being serviced following it's untimely demise right after a show in January.  After picking it up at the repair place on friday, I went to a friend's band's show, and taped it.  I was running a pair of akg c1000s into a digimod ua-5 (thank you, david), and then running a pro digital 7 pin cable from the ua-5 to the deck.  I taped in 48khz.  

The tape sounds great on headphones, or when played through a stereo via line out.  When transferring via 7pin cable, however, there are pops and a staticy kind of noise in the right channel.  I tried a different deck, and got the same pops, so I don't think it's a problem there.  I tried a different 7pin cable, and nothing changed.  I got a friend of mine to listen to a WAV to make sure the pops were in the actual data and not just my speakers.

I'd assume that there is just a problem with my soundcard, but the catch is this: I transferred another tape today, too.  The only difference is that it was taped from the analogue output on my UA-5, at 44.1khz.  The digital transfer that sits on my computer is free of static or popping.

Is it possible that my sound card has an issue with accepting a 48khz signal?  It's a Zoltrix Nightingale Pro 6.  I've never had a problem with it before, but I also don't normally tape at 48khz.  Help!  

[dklein]

hey - just to clarify, when you taped from analog out, the sampling rate settings don't come into play.

Was your UA-5 set for 44.1 or 48 (I probably left it at 44.1)?

So does anyone else know what happens if you set a D8 to 48k and then feed it a 44.1 digital signal?  Does it resample to 48 or just switch to recording in 44.1

But first - did you have your Nightingale set for 48k?  It's in the advanced  settings.  If your 44.1 tape transferred fine and you didn't change any settings when you transferred the 48k tape, that's probably it.

[brandont_h]

Hey David.  When in 44.1, the UA-5 was giving off a constant, uniform ticking noise.  Tick. . . .tick. . . .tick. . . .tick.  I tried switching it to 48khz, and giving it a power cycle, and the tick went away.  I adjusted my D8 to reflect the change to 48khz.

I realize that the sampling rate doesn't come into play in terms of the UA-5, but it still does when I transfer from the DAT to PC.  What I was trying to point out is that the tape recorded at 44.1 and transferred at 44.1 sounds ok, while the one taped digitally at 48 and then transferred at 48 has crackling in the right channel.

Also, I thought that 44.1/48 setting on the nightingale was just for spdif out, no?

[dklein]

Couple things:

1.  Are you saying the UA-5 > D8 doesn't work in 44.1? (when both are set to 44.1 and power cycled)

2.  If your 44.1s transfer OK and the 48 sounds fine on the DAT, then it is a soundcard issues.  I think you're right about the settings being output - forgot about that.  I've never recorded in 48k so never had the need with my Nightingale.

Check this post http://www.solorb.com/dat-heads/digests/V6.600/D682#Msg5
Chuck is on the board under the name 'Calico' - maybe he's got an answer for us

[brandont_h]

UA-5 > D8, with both at 44.1 and powercycled *does* work, but there's an audible tick noise that doesn't happen at 48khz.  I noticed it through headphones while some other bands were on.  I don't know if that tick noise would be recorded, but I assume so, as my headphones were plugged into the D8.  I didn't have an adaptor to plug into the UA-5 to check if the noise was there, too.  I presume it was, though.

The staticy noise I'm hearing now, however, doesn't sound like the tick noise that was in the field.  This sounds more like there's clipping going on, even though there isn't.  After the transfer was complete, and I resampled the audio to 44.1, I amplified the wave by 5db, and cool edit told me there were 3 possibly clipped samples in the whole wave.  That's *after* a 5db level boost, so there's no way it could be clipping.  The ua-5 never peaked, etc etc etc.

[brandont_h]

I sent Chuck a private message on this board, and he replied saying that his "solution" was to buy an Audiophile 2496.  I'd like to do the same, but I'm really broke, so if anyone can offer suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

[dklein]

Just do a transfer through your UA-5 (not bit perfect but what the hell)

DAT>7pin out>UA-5 digital in>USB>pc

Then record 44.1 from now on (gotta get that worked out too).  Not sure about the problem there - I was successfully running 44.1 on your UA-5, optical out to the Nomad.  No ticking.

Do you have another recording device you can use to test the 44.1 stream?  Could be related to the unusual s/pdif voltage levels used in some Sony DATs.

[brandont_h]

So right now I have my mics set up facing out my open window.  The UA-5 is running on wall wart power, it's set to 44.1khz, running through my prodig 7pin cable (switched to digital), into my D8, which is also set to 44.1, and I'm monitoring through headphones plugged into the D8.  I can't hear the ticking now that I could in the venue on friday night.  I don't know what caused it, but if it's gone now, I'm happy.

As for transferring through the UA-5, I don't have a usb cable, and won't be able to pick one up for a while, so I might just do an analogue transfer.  I swear I'm buying a better sound card when I have the money.  :/

PS:  Listening to street noises is funny.    I can hear footsteps.  Crazy.

[dklein]

Looks like it's just you and me here.  I can mail you one if you want - got a local computer store that'll sell me one for $5 or less.  

[brandont_h]

Well, that sounds like quite a nice price. . .  I'll mail you a cheque or something.  We'll take this to email.

Meanwhile, if anyone else has any sort of explanation or suggestion, I'd love to hear it!