Firebox Noise, Is there a cure? Options

[wannabeIdontknow...]

i've got my FireBox up and running on my PowerBook G4 1.5GHz with the included Cubase LE. Plug and play, minimal setup. Almost all is good.

Only one thing now. There is an awful lot of hiss and coming through the headphones with direct monitoring and playback.

i thought that digital recording is supposed to be clean, except for the clipping that can occur.

Any thoughts or advice on how to minimize the hiss?

Thanks

[lepetitmartien]

Is the hiss in the headphones only or in the recorded files?
From the developer part of the install CD/DVD, install the CHUD tools, you'll have a processor prefpanel, there disable "nap" it may help. But it may not be sufficient.

[wannabeIdontknow...]

The hiss is only in the phones...recording sounds clean.

I cannot locate a developer part of CHUD tools on my LE SD ...

But monitoring through the phone io quite noisy..

[lepetitmartien]

CHUD tools are part of the developer tools on the OS X install CD/DVD (sorry for the misunderstanding)

Where are connected the headphones, directly on the powerbook?

[wannabeIdontknow...]

Thanks..after unchecking the NAP in CHUD, the noise did reduce significantly, although there is still some hiss/noise when headphones are plugged into the FireBox, but at least it isn't unbearable.

[lepetitmartien]

[mapmap]

what exactly is happening when you make the 'nap' change?
how else does it effect your system?

just wondering

[wannabeIdontknow...]

what exactly is happening when you make the 'nap' change?
how else does it effect your system?

just wondering

I couldn't tell you. Just that it reduced the headphone hiss. As far as i can tell, it did not affect anything else.

[lepetitmartien]

The "nap" is an energy saving feature embedded in the CPU, when not used, parts of the CPU are sent to sleep (hence nap) and so they use less power. Unfortunately, it's also a common hiss source.

[ColdPack]

S0, I bought a Firefox and had the whine issue. I returned it. Then I learned about the NAP issue. So I installed CHUD and went back and tried a new (different) Firebox. It worked perfectly... WITHOUT messing with NAP.

So, was it the Firebox I got the first time? The firewire cable? Or is it just chance?

Frankly, I love my firebox now. But I can't tell you if the NAP thing is always the solution or if it is, indeed, the root of the problem.

My new Firebox is quiet and sounds great with my G4 Powerbook (1.67 GHz).

CP

This post has been edited by ColdPack: Fri 3 Mar 2006, 15:47

[lepetitmartien]

It's a problem not only on the firebox but on all interface on firewire, and sometimes the nap does the trick…

Not that the interface makers and Apple are very talkative about this…

[UP Multimedia]

Bravo Cold Harbour... Now its time to Rock... or whatever you do

[arvidtp]

Here, my friends, are two applescripts i wrote to turn nap on and off with one click - also u can save the off one as an application and plop in your startup items if u wish. Note - you must be an admin user for these to work.

To turn off nap copy and paste this code snippet into script editor, replacing your_password with, well - your password! (leave the quotes intact). Then save as an application:

CODE

set tasks to {"hwprefs cpu_nap={false}"}
do shell script tasks password "your_password" with administrator privileges

To turn nap back on do the same with this snippet of code:

CODE

set tasks to {"hwprefs cpu_nap={true}"}
do shell script tasks password "your_password" with administrator privileges

enjoy,
Vid

[The_Stork]

arvidtp, Thank you for the scrips.

To all, to summarize:

- 1st, return your Firebox for another unit.
- 2nd, check your charging plug.
- 3rd, activate (turn off) napping (do you need CHUD for this, even with arvidtp's scripts?)
- 4th, turn off the Airport card (is this really necessary?)
- 6th, check Presonus' FAQs
- 5th, return your Firebox again

Hopefully, this got it.

BTW, here's the latest version of CHUD for 10.4 (31.7MB):
ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Tool_Chest/.../CHUD_4.4.4.dmg

[ArchivalAudio]

Hey arvidtp
thanx!
will theses scripts work batter than CHUD?

I used my Firebox 2-days ago to record a Greg Brown Show here in toewn and I was plagued by clicking and poping
I have found that folks here are way more helpful than
at the presonus forums

I have done every thing to test my firebox, I can usually 90% of the time to get it to work fine at home
but in the field (where it is critical) I have click and pop issues!
grrrrrr

I am strongly considering "upgrading to a MOTU Ultra lite
and will search the forums here to see how well they seem to be interfacing with other Mac's

thanx
again
ArchivalAudio

Here, my friends, are two applescripts i wrote to turn nap on and off with one click - also u can save the off one as an application and plop in your startup items if u wish. Note - you must be an admin user for these to work.

To turn off nap copy and paste this code snippet into script editor, replacing your_password with, well - your password! (leave the quotes intact). Then save as an application:

CODE

set tasks to {"hwprefs cpu_nap={false}"}
do shell script tasks password "your_password" with administrator privileges

To turn nap back on do the same with this snippet of code:

CODE

set tasks to {"hwprefs cpu_nap={true}"}
do shell script tasks password "your_password" with administrator privileges

enjoy,
Vid

[arvidtp]

these scripts do not replace CHUD - they simply automate it. You still must install CHUD. I have the nap-off script as a startup item.