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Old 05-20-2007, 12:09 AM   #1
meteor
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Default Bad hiss recording with Lexicon Alpha.

hey guys...i'm experiencing bad background noise when recording with this Lexicon machine. i don't get any latency which is good, but the hiss makes stuff un-recordable at this point. i'm actually using the Cubase LE that came with it just to get my feet wet, planning to move to Reaper now that i know what i'm doing. i mean it's OK if i listen to the stuff on low volume but it's kind of pointless to listen to rock music on low volume...as soon as i try and crank it even a bit i hear the white noise.

is this just a function of computer recording? any suggestions would be much appreciated. thanks
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Old 05-20-2007, 01:37 AM   #2
Rann
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Hi Meteor,
I've got the Omega version and it's extremely quiet. If the problem persists when you make the switch to reaper let us know.
I'm not sure what to tell you at this point, except to check things that you probably already checked 3 or 4 times. Try another usb port on your pc, mute unused channels, so on and so forth.

peace,
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Old 05-20-2007, 07:35 AM   #3
drumist69
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Check the record or input levels on your soundcard maybe? Also it might be that you have either a noisy computer or a defective Alpha. What is the signal chain like...what mic, cable, any outboard gear? Andy
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Old 05-20-2007, 06:33 PM   #4
meteor
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i tried changing USB ports but no dice. muting unused channels won't help because it's on the guitar tracks and the vocal tracks (not as bad but still there). i'm using standard guitar cables...but when i unplug all the cables and just have the unit hooked up to my speakers it is not as bad but still discernible, so it has to be something with the box or the computer.the noise is at its worst when i run my POD through the unit. Unit was new in the box so not sure if it's defective or not.

as for the sound card, it's the stock one on my system (900 mhz...640 RAM), but since the ASIO drivers and all the recording goes through the unit as well as the playback through the speakers which are hooked up to it, I don't think it would be that. thing is i get Zero latency which is great...i was like "wow awesome...let's rock"...never imagined they'd market or sell something that has that much hiss; i mean i can't imagine anyone at all serious about recording would find this acceptable. it's alright for demoing and working on your guitar and vocal parts, but for recording actual tunes forget about it.

i'm gonna hook it up to my friend's Mac laptop tomorrow to see what happens and go from there.

Last edited by meteor; 05-20-2007 at 06:53 PM.
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Old 06-29-2007, 04:40 PM   #5
Aura
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Default And, the Lexicon Lambda . . . ?

Hi, All,
Just got registered & am getting comfortable with Reaper.
Unfortunately, my Lex Lambda is not.

It's right there in Audio Devices, but doesn't seem to be "takling" past there.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated before I flush the little blue box.

As an aside, when the Lambda was installed thru the bundled Cubase LE, it totally screwed up my faithful Dell, and I finally resorted to a Windows restore point.

This time, I only installed the driver from Lexicon, and Windows seems OK.

Audio outside of Reaper plays right thru the Lambda, which makes a nice preamp for my speakers' amplifier, but that's not quite what I bought it for.
Thanks,
Mark
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Old 06-29-2007, 07:13 PM   #6
tspring
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Having noise in your recordings is definitely NOT inherent to recording on a computer. A likely cause of the problem is that the signal being passed to the computer is too weak. When you amplify what is being received by the PC so much gain is applied that normally unobjectionable electrical noise becomes audible.

The Alpha has a hardware knob to control ouput level for the line output, right? Does it effect USB ouput level too? Can you reduce the noise level by turning it up and then turning down the gain that is applied by Reaper?

If you are using a laptop PC (especially a Dell) try unplugging the power supply and recording under battery power for a few seconds. Some laptop power supplies (irritated Dell owner here) generate an excessive amount of radio frequency interference that induces electrical noise which gets passed along to recordings. Ask about a "ground lift" if you do have a Dell laptop.

Give us some feedback, and then somebody will take you to the next step if these suggestions arent't applicable or don't work.

T

Last edited by tspring; 06-29-2007 at 07:16 PM.
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Old 06-29-2007, 07:19 PM   #7
tspring
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Hold on... You said "when i unplug all the cables and just have the unit hooked up to my speakers it is not as bad but still discernible". Do you mean you hear the noise even when the PC is not connected?

T

Last edited by tspring; 06-29-2007 at 07:22 PM.
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Old 07-16-2007, 11:43 AM   #8
Kory
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Default addon question from different user

Hello All!

I also have a Dell Laptop (Latitude D830) and cannot get the audio to reach Reaper. My guitar is plugged into my Lexicon unit, audio comes out the headphone jack (on the Lexicon unit), and that's it. It doesn't come into Reaper. I can see the Lexicon device on the computer. Just how should one setup the audio chain? What do you suggest to debug my setup? Help!

Kory
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