Horrible amount of noise using Revalver + TS7 (clip)

[The Crystal King]

I finally managed to get really close the the guitar tone I wanted using Revalver. I'm using this signal chain:
Guitar->TS7->ApogeeDuet->Mac

Here is a sample of the noise - titled "noisy", just with one guitar. Note how you can still hear interference when the riff is playing (years ago with my pod, any inteference was not obvious while playing the riff):
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=889569&content=music

After adding all of the effects in Revalver, there is now a serious amount of interference coming through and it's really annoying. I can noise gate out some of it, but it's still very obvious while playing riffs. The TS7 just makes things worse (although it adds a lovely dimension to the tone).

The only solution I've found thus far is to compromise my guitar sound - lowering gain throughout the chain (lower duet volume, lower gain in revalver amps, etc), but I end up with something that doesn't sound anywhere near as nice and smooth...

Any tips on how I can get rid of this sickening noise? My cables are good quality but not that expensive, maybe 15 to 20 dollars.

thanks for any help on this one...

 

[The Crystal King]

Maybe this is just par for the course, and is something we have to work with?

Even plugging my guitar directly into the Mac, without any preamp or TS at all, and using Revalver... there is still tons of noise once I engage all those revalver modules.

Any tips appreciated...

 

[TheWinterSnow]

that is definitely a 60 cycle hum. You are going to have to either get a noise gate for your guitar or turn off the device near you giving that interference.

 

[The Crystal King]

Thanks for the advice mate! I didn't even know about 60 cycle hum. After googling it, I came up with a post on the Revalver forum:

"There's nothing you can do to get rid of the background sound when you use heavy/distored preamping, when you're coming out of a guitar. Try this: turn the knobs to OFF on your guitar when you're getting all the noise. You'll notice that it goes away. The vast majority of the noise you're hearing is actually sound from the guitar's pickups picking up ambient magnetic interference and the infamous 60 cycle hum from AC electricity. When you run your guitar through a high-gain amp set up (real or virtual), the amp sucks up all that background noise and amplifies it.

The good thing is that as mentioned above, a noise gate will solve the problem. The better news is that Revalver has a built-in gate module! Turn all the knobs on your guitar to where you keep them when playing, but keep the strings muted. Now, adjust the threshold of the noise gate until it JUST kills the background hum. Problem solved!"

Ok... I will give the Revalver gate a try, although I didn't want to use noise gates because I was afraid of losing tone.

 

[Zombietakeover]

Yeah thats a crazy amount of noise....have you tried another guitar?

 

[MT01]

Which electrical appliances do you have on in the room?

My CRT monitor causes insane interference when I play guitar close to it, however my TFT LCD monitor does not.

 

[Erkan]

Daaaamn dude, that sounds screwed up and yes, as people have said, sounds like that famous goddamn hum

Hope you find the solution for it.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

The good thing is that as mentioned above, a noise gate will solve the problem. The better news is that Revalver has a built-in gate module! Turn all the knobs on your guitar to where you keep them when playing, but keep the strings muted. Now, adjust the threshold of the noise gate until it JUST kills the background hum. Problem solved!"

well the noise gat in revlaver works good for killing all noise when your not playing, that hum you are getting is going to come through as soon as you play and the gate releases. ass you said the hum continues while you play, and the noise suppressor in revlaver is only a gate. YOu will need something that can specifically remove the hum. ISP noise gates have a built in circuit that finds and removes the low frequency hum, which can vary from 50-60 Hz. You could also stick an eq before revalver, both simulated or real and do a high q filter (notch) and completely scoop out the entire section that creates noise. Because it will be only one frequency it won't change the tone at all

 

[The Crystal King]

Last night I just tried to reduce as many of my volumes/presence as possible in revalver, and on my duet. The noise is reduced, but still quite obvious.

Thanks for the advice WinterSnow, I think I'll try the high q filter using my apeEq (it's a great tool) - will keep it as narrow (high q) as possible and make sure it doesn't affect any of the neighboring frequencies...

this forum is seriously helpful...

 

[zuzek]

Adding my personal experience with a nearly identical issue. I know that hum all too well since I have had it on my Emu 0404 USB since I bought it. From grounding my PC to rewiring my guitar to changing nearly all the Revalver/EMU settings. I've tinkered around with everything for about 5-6 months, nothing got rid of it. I tried using the noise gate as well but when the audio got to the point of being bearable to hear I lost any tone and all dynamics. I've been on the Revalver forum for quite some time trying to find people willing to shelve a bit of their time and give some advice/help, but it was useless. To eradicate personal situation factors I brought the interface + guitar to two seperate friends and also used their cables and guitars to compare, same issue. Now I have a Pod XT and I get no hum whatsoever. Needless to say, that Emu 0404 USB is going to be sent back as it's a faulty piece of equipment. I'd advise for you to try the interface with different PC's, guitars and cables; if you still get the same results I deem it's likely that your Apogee interface is faulty as well.

 

[iamandy]

what are you using to power the TS7? from the noise it sounds like you're using a cheap 9volt power supply.. but i may be wrong!

 

[noarin]

if you are using a portable computer; try and remove the charger and work on the battery and see if it changes. My presonus firepod is in the same socket as my laptop Battery charger and this gives me a crazy amount of hum!

just my two cents!

 

[The Crystal King]

Thanks for the advice guys...

I just use a battery in my TS7, so no power supply.

I am not sure if it's the Apogee because even if I plug the guitar directly into the Mac, it still gives the hum.

I will try removing the charger and see what happens!