Not noise, not static, not echo... but annoying (SOLVED)

[chrisr]

I feel bad even posting, because I'm sure this must have come up elsewhere and I just can't find the right search to find it.

I'm getting a static-y kind of noise distortion cropping up occasionally when recording from a microphone directly into Audacity. It'll record for minutes, and all of a sudden the distortion will jump into the recording and last for minutes, and then generally go away (and come back), with no apparent rhyme or reason about when or why it comes and goes. I barely even know how to describe the problem, so I'm including a 5-second clip of one point at which the static came into the recording. Anyone able to say what's going on, or what to check/try to prevent this?

[steve]

USB microphone?

[chrisr]

Yes. Although it's a mic/headphones plugin that connect to a USB adapter at the last second, and I do HAVE individual ports on my computer for each; would that make a difference? Should I quit using the adapter?

[steve]

it's a mic/headphones plugin that connect to a USB adapter at the last second,

What sort of mic/headphones? (make/model number would be good, but failing that, what sort of connectors?)
What sort of USB adaptor? (make/model)
What do you mean "at the last second"?

Should I quit using the adapter?

If you can connect a mic directly to the computer, that is certainly worth trying.

[chrisr]

What sort of mic/headphones? (make/model number would be good, but failing that, what sort of connectors?)

Plantronics GameCon 377

What sort of USB adaptor? (make/model)

It's the "soundcard" part of this headset, a SteelSound 5H USB. Which now makes me seriously wonder if that's precisely my problem.

it's a mic/headphones plugin that connect to a USB adapter at the last second,

What do you mean "at the last second"?

I just meant, my headset plugs into USB adapter ("soundcard", apparently, now that I look up how it works), which is tiny and short and plugs right into my computer.

[steve]

Try plugging directly into the computer and see how that goes.
The problem is that the USB is dropping data, so if you can manage without the USB then that will probably be the easiest solution.

[chrisr]

Plugging directly into the computer seems to have fixed it. It's a perfectly feasible work-around. I'm just curious, though... if I wanted to dig deeper into what the root cause was, and how to solve that... do you have any tips for things to check? Do you think trying to get a more recent driver for the USB-adapter-soundcard would make a difference? Is there a more technical term than "dropping data" to try googling in relation to that USB soundcard? Regardless, thanks for the help, this one could be marked as "solved" and anyone in the future with the same problem, I'd recommend steve's solution.

[steve]

I wouldn't expect the problem to be drivers as most USB audio device just use generic Windows drivers. There's a big list of other stuff that could be involved: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Manag ... nd_Drivers
USB devices are particularly vulnerable to problems when the CPU load is high.