Static, OS 10.4.11

[khoffcran]

Hello All - While recording vinyl-to-digital transfers, I often get sudden bursts of static, which then persist until I shut down the recording and begin again. I was using a cheap USB turntable (Numark TT USB) with a great deal of EM interference, so I concluded it must be EM "feedback" through the stylus on this ungrounded machine. I thought I'd get rid of the problem by getting a quality analog TT and A/D preamp. (Denon DP-300F, ART USB Phono Plus V2). Although I love the new setup (as I don't have to use noise reduction with the electronic artifcats THAT introduces), I still often have the static interference problem.

Here's my setup: 2006 iMac 5,1 (2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Memory 1GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, OS 10.4.11)

Denon analog DP-300F TT into ART USB Phono Plus V2 A/D preamp, then standard USB 2.0 cable directly into USB port (no hub).

Audacity 1.2.5

HELP!

Thanks Much, Keith H, khoffcran, NJ / USA

[steve]

If it is loud bursts of "static" then it is probably due to the USB connection loosing synchronisation.
Avoid using a USB hub, connect the USB turntable directly to the computer.
Avoid using other USB devices at the same time.
Avoid running other programs at the same time as you are recording - particularly programs that have audio and/or video, web browsers, or programs that are CPU intensive.

[bgravato]

Audacity 1.2.5 is also an acient version of audacity. The latest stable is 1.2.6 and even that is old and no longer being developed.
On Tiger it should work well, but in more recent system it's recommended to upgrade to 1.3.12. Despite being labelled as beta it's actually quite stable, since the release of the next stable version is getting near.

You can try 1.3.12 without removing 1.2.x. You can have both version on the computer, you just can't open both at the same. Projects saved in 1.2 can be open in 1.3, but not the other way.

[khoffcran]

Thanks Steve. I disconnected the other USB inputs, and didn't run other programs during recording. I've done two albums' worth of recording without any interference. I'm also, by the way, delighted with having a real turntable again, and much prefer the setup using an analog Denon DP300F into an ART USB Phono Plus V2 A/D interface, rather than the garbage USB turntable I was using. I haven't had a real turntable since my Dual 1218 finally gave out (after 20 years of abuse from an adolescent-teen-young adult-adult music lover).

Keith, NJ / USA