1 Topic by stu55y (edited by stu55y 2020-08-03 15:23:27)

  • Registered: 2020-08-03
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Babyface Pro: grainy/metallic high frequency output

Recently I started experiencing grainy/metallic/scratchy sounding medium-to-high frequencies intermittently on my Adam A7X monitors, connected to my Babyface Pro via XLRs. 

At first I was questioning whether there was an issue with the monitors themselves, but I have  swapped these out and am getting a similar issue with other monitors (KRK). It's the same issue when outputting to monitors via the headphone output.  I've reset TotalMix but this doesn't seem to make any difference. Am running the latest drivers and firmware for the Babyface Pro.

Could there be something faulty with the circuitry/chips in the Babyface that needs to be repaired? The Babyface Pro was bought in 2016 so am well beyond the warranty period I imagine.

thanks
Stuart

2 Reply by breun (edited by breun 2020-08-03 15:47:40)

  • breun
  • AD/DA expert
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  • Registered: 2020-08-01
  • Posts: 54

Re: Babyface Pro: grainy/metallic high frequency output

Maybe the I/O buffer size in your DAW is set too low for the load that the number of tracks and plugin processing power puts on your system? When that buffer size is too small, you can get audio glitch artifacts like you describe.

From the Babyface Pro manual:

If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-power and/or sufficient USB-bus transfer rates, then drop outs, crackling and noise will appear. Such effects can be avoided by using a higher buffer setting/latency in the Settings dialog of the Babyface Pro.

  • Registered: 2020-08-03
  • Posts: 2

Re: Babyface Pro: grainy/metallic high frequency output

breun wrote:

Maybe the I/O buffer size in your DAW is set too low for the load that the number of tracks and plugin processing power puts on your system? When that buffer size is too small, you can get audio glitch artifacts like you describe.

From the Babyface Pro manual:

If a computer does not provide sufficient CPU-power and/or sufficient USB-bus transfer rates, then drop outs, crackling and noise will appear. Such effects can be avoided by using a higher buffer setting/latency in the Settings dialog of the Babyface Pro.

Thanks for the quick response.  This is happening both in the DAW environment and outside within Windows 10 generally (e.g. playing lossless FLAC files in VLC). I have increased the buffer size to as much as 8192 samples but unfortunately this is not solving the problem of the artifacts, which are somewhat intermittent too...

  • ldevo
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  • Registered: 2022-01-18
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Re: Babyface Pro: grainy/metallic high frequency output

Did you ever manage to resolve this? I am having the exact same issue and cannot work out what is causing it.