well, i have built the new space station for gigging, but am having an issue.

[Stella Joop]

so for upcoming live shows with my band i am running the following units and am having issues with hum in rehearsals and only expect them to get worse when we're out there playing dicky's chicken shack or whatever club...here is what im running:

 

dell laptop with ableton

rack:

furman power

korg tuner (in loop of kustom bass head)

maudio firewire 410

nady pem-500 wireless in ears

korg ms2k rack synth vocoder

kustom 1200 bas head

behringer DI-800 DI box

3 space drawer

 

and a mesa bass cab and a fender jazz bass. i control ableton/korg with a novation remote 25 keyboard that is powered by usb off the laptop.

 

i am getting crazy hum, and looking at maybe the Ebtech hum-x hum eliminator, $60 plug adaptor thingy.

[philbo]

Hum is usually caused by one of the following:

1) Bad cord

2) Wrong type of cord for the job (undshielded, miswired)

3) power supply defect in one of the boxes.

 

By being systematic and thorough, you can probably save yourself 60 bucks by finding and solving the problem.

[D Charles]

Turn your rig down to very low volume and start unplugging cords one end at a time and then plugging back in. It's also helpful to grab plugged in cords and twist them around a bit. Also tap them with a pencil and see if they're microphonic (you can hear thumps in the signal with your tapping).

 

You can also try replacing cords one by one.

 

Replace the offending cord.

[Stella Joop]

yeah, i think tonight i may be hunting down a hum before going further.

 

 

its just me and you tonight, rack. *greases up fist*

[MikeRivers]

 

i am getting crazy hum, and looking at maybe the Ebtech hum-x hum eliminator, $60 plug adaptor thingy.

You have too much gear.

 

The way to diagnose a problem like this is to work backwards from the output. Start with whatever you listen to with nothing connected to its input. If it hums, you know what to fix first. Then connect whatever comes before it and listen for hum. Keep connecting things until you find what causes the trouble.

 

One of the common causes is a ground loop that involves the computer, where it's seeing ground from its power plug and, through the cable to your Firewire interface, from the cable shields of other gear connected to the Firewire interface. You may need to make some cables with shields disconnected, or use some isolation transformers.

 

A Hum-X does the same thing as lifting the ground pin of the AC power plug, but it doesn't sacrafice the electrical safety. You can get a ground-lift adapter and try it (while being careful not to stand barefoot on the wet floor) various places. If you can find a ground you can lift to fix the problem, a Hum-X will be effective. Otherwise it won't help.