Synth recording problems..

[Blackie1]

Not sure why my other posts are being deleted...sorry if it's because it was in the wrong section.

Anyway, I was trying to record my Micromoog, line in into a mixer, and then mixer into a laptop, with Garageband. I noticed that when I hit a key, there was a thin staticy buzz that occured right at the attack of the sound, along with the sound that the synth is making. I can't seem to make it go away. It just lasts for a second or so, and then fades off and the synth sound continues. If I turn the volume off, it goes away, but if I just turn the cuttoff to the point where there is no sound coming out, I can here it. Also, when I have my headphones on and am monitoring the sound with nothing playing, I can faintly hear the synth continually playing what sound it's set to, like it's on bypass. It's there along with the noise just very quietly in the background.

Any ideas how to fix this stuff?

[pflosi]

the buzz that ur getting could be caused by bad analog-digital convertion. as u describe it, it seems to me that u dont use an external soundcard. internal converters of laptops r quite bad.

the other thing with the sound ur hearing though no keys r played is normal. the oscillator oscillates all the time, not only when u press a key. so depending on the settings of the vca, one will hear little sounds though it gets not gated by envelopes... noticed the same with my juno

[Blackie1]

Yeah, I'm not using an external soundcard. I might invest in something else to record with.

Thanks for the help. Anyone else?

[meatballfulton]

The line in on Apples is usually pretty good sounding. Make sure you don't have the level set incorrectly in the driver for the audio in.

For that matter, unless you need to mix the synth with something else just run the synth straight into the laptop.

As for the low level continuous sound of the synth, has it been serviced lately (or ever)? Some analogs have adjustments for the VCA to make sure it is completely off when the EG is off.

[Blackie1]

I have tried plugging it directly into the computer, and still get the click. Even when just listening with headphones from the mixer (which the synth is plugged into) I hear it.

I'm not sure if it's been serviced lately. I haven't gotten it serviced since I've had it.

[Solderman]

A few other settings on the Moog to try are:
* Slow filter envelope attack
* Slow amp envelope attack
* Combinations of the above two, with and without
* Resonance up and resonance zeroed

If you have access to a Midi to CV/Gate converter, you would want to see if you get the same glitch when triggered externally. If you don't, first thing to suspect is the keyboard may need maintenance. If you do, the issue is likely related to the gate/trigger, and is not a good sign. Could be one of a multitude of components failing.

My Minikorg 700S does this with the local keyboard, but not with CV/Gate, assuming certain switches on it are off. Turning on those switches for CV/Gate brings the glitch back to an extent. The more you can isolate the problem, the better.

[Blackie1]

I'll try those settings, I've already tried the first couple. I don't have a converter. I'm still messing with different settings, but nothing seems to stop it. I'll keep trying though.

Here is a sample I made. Listen closely to the attack and use headphones: http://blip.tv/file/1609800/

[pflosi]

sounds to me like normal behaviour of fast envelopes. try using a little release to avoid the click. or maybe little attack.

[Blackie1]

I've already tried all that, nothing works.

[Blackie1]

Need help! It's still there!

[Pilot352]

Have you tried turning the gain of your mixer down and the volume of the synth up? This will increase the S/N ratio and reduce unwanted noise.