Motu Ultralite MK5 + Neumann NDH30 (Noise)

[Zack__1987]

Hi there!

I ended buying the Motu Ultralite MK5 and the Neumann NDH30 headphones to plug and record my Squier Telecaster so I found some issues that maybe is me being a noob or maybe is something wrong.

First of all I found a lot of interferences going on through the guitar and I think is because I'm next to the computer because if I go further it dissappear a bit.

I'm using ASIO drivers and 1024 samples since using 256 makes the guitar sounds like sh*t.

Also I found the noise floor a bit high because I hear clean noise in the background. Didn't expect this from this interface to be honest. The solution would be buying a headphones amplifier?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Guitars are often poorly shielded with high-impedance circuitry, so you better make sure the computer is well-grounded or else your recordings will be buzztastic. It goes without saying that you need a decently shielded instrument cable. DIY improvement of electrostatic shielding may be possible if you have somewhat of an idea of what you're doing.

Pickups are basically massive coils and as such prone to picking up to magnetic fields from the likes of power supplies (CCFL monitor backlights are notorious, too). Thankfully these fields tend to taper off with distance quickly and are orientation-sensitive. A humbucker coil should help a lot, these were developed to counteract pretty much that exact problem.

I am inclined to think that all the noise is coming from the input side and is not inherent to the interface; just make sure it's not set to 16 bits or something. Virtually no interface has a headphone out noise floor that would be audible in full-size headphones like these.

You can't get stable recordings at 256 samples, seriously? What sample rate would that be at? Your machine would seem to have some issues with USB there. What exactly do you have? If it's an M1 Mac, there is a known issue with the current version of OS X that is scheduled to be fixed. If it's an AM4-based PC, make sure you're not running a way outdated BIOS from over 2 years ago. Also, don't be too surprised if you can't hit DDR4-3600 reliably even on Zen 3 ("hiccups" are a symptom of excessive memory bus ECC errors), and with 4 modules you'll probably have to scale back to 3000 at best.

 

[Zack__1987]

Guitars are often poorly shielded with high-impedance circuitry, so you better make sure the computer is well-grounded or else your recordings will be buzztastic. It goes without saying that you need a decently shielded instrument cable. DIY improvement of electrostatic shielding may be possible if you have somewhat of an idea of what you're doing.

Pickups are basically massive coils and as such prone to picking up to magnetic fields from the likes of power supplies (CCFL monitor backlights are notorious, too). Thankfully these fields tend to taper off with distance quickly and are orientation-sensitive. A humbucker coil should help a lot, these were developed to counteract pretty much that exact problem.

I am inclined to think that all the noise is coming from the input side and is not inherent to the interface; just make sure it's not set to 16 bits or something. Virtually no interface has a headphone out noise floor that would be audible in full-size headphones like these.

You can't get stable recordings at 256 samples, seriously? What sample rate would that be at? Your machine would seem to have some issues with USB there. What exactly do you have? If it's an M1 Mac, there is a known issue with the current version of OS X that is scheduled to be fixed. If it's an AM4-based PC, make sure you're not running a way outdated BIOS from over 2 years ago. Also, don't be too surprised if you can't hit DDR4-3600 reliably even on Zen 3 ("hiccups" are a symptom of excessive memory bus ECC errors), and with 4 modules you'll probably have to scale back to 3000 at best.

Finally, I'm going to take it next week to the Luthier to check the electronics, shield it, and I've also bought the Fender Ultra Noiseless pickups for Telecaster to see if that changes the noise for the better.

It is a guitar that has been sitting for several years and perhaps that has also damaged the electronics and the pickups a little.

In the computer side I'm going to take a look for a Macbook Pro and get off my main Windows PC for music recording and producing.

 

[AnalogSteph]

It is a guitar that has been sitting for several years and perhaps that has also damaged the electronics and the pickups a little.

You never know to what standards it was built and whether it's been messed with prior either.

In the computer side I'm going to take a look for a Macbook Pro and get off my main Windows PC for music recording and producing.

"Windows PC" is about as specific as "car".