EMI / recording interference

emmr

New member
Hi there,

Just began making used of my PC for audio production
However it was previously designed for gaming and VFX.

I attempting to record I am noticing my NeuralDSP amp sims are responding to a large amount of extra noise in my signal chain.

I have removed all the usual obvious culprits like cables etc so this leaves me with EMI from my PC being picked up by my guitar pickups or getting into the signal somewhere else. I realise computers produce some EMI but to have it affect my signal chain when I'm over 5ms away is concerning.

Are there any causes - say parts failure, maintenance that could be the cause?
What can I do to mitigate it? as currently it is rendering my PC unusable for this purpose.

PC Specs as follows (bought from PC specialist in 2016)

PCS DOMINATOR 6806B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-6700 (3.4GHz) 8MB Cache Motherboard ASUS® Z170 PRO GAMING: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs Memory (RAM) 16GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 8GB) Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - DVI, HDMI, 2 x mDP - 3D Vision Ready 2nd Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - DVI, HDMI, 2 x mDP - 3D Vision Ready 1st Hard Disk 240GB KINGSTON V300 SSD, SATA 6 Gb (450MB/R, 450MB/W) 2nd Hard Disk 2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE 1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM Power Supply CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Processor Cooling Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED) USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Operating System was originally 8.1 and has now been updated to Windows 10 as of yesterday.

Metaphorical beer for anyone who can solve this problem for me!

Thankyou.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
When you updated to windows 10 did you clean install? That would be the first thing to do.

Are you using a proper audio interface?

Once you’ve clean installed, you’ll need to optimise for audio:

 

emmr

New member
Hi problem existed on windows 8.1 as well.

Yes, I've tried several Focusrite Scarlette 2i2, Line6 Ux1, Line6 Ux2. they all have different drivers. Have also tried running the divices with ASIO4all as well incase.


I have coppered taped the inside of my guitar.
Unplugged all peripherals
tried different wall sockets
tried 3 different entry interfaces and various drivers
tried standing in a different room to my PC lol
tried different guitar ables
turned off LED internals / bypassing fans.
tried different guitars with active vs passive pickups
tried PC power settings / tried operating systems lol
unplugged screen monitors.

Tried plugging the pc into a UPS with filters
Tried running via DI boxes.
Stripped the PC down to mobo /psu / OS.

changed power management
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Could it be something else in your location? Temporarily move somewhere else to test...
 

emmr

New member
Seems the only things not ruled out, beyond location, is the PSU and motherboard understandably. I am not a musical/audio person (not since school anyway) but is it possible something like a motherboard connection somewhere is not fully shielded and that is causing the interference? It's fine for the PC but not for other stuff? Maybe the PSU fan is vibrating at a certain frequency? Am sure both of my thoughts are completely wrong but thought it was worth saying just in case
Honestly off the wall suggestions are entirely acceptable at this point... I'm not a build my own pc type computer person or and electronics person so I've now reached a point where I am out of my depth - I'm a creative, by techy enough to make use of things and problem solve the usual stuff etc.

As for Mobo this is something I was wondering, have come across several other musicians in the same spot with NDSP with gaming mobos.
 

SimArm

New member
I just got a new PC from PCSpecialist and have noticed my guitar is picking up far more EMI than it was from my old Dell. There are so many new / higher rated components in this machine, and the specs are so different to my old PC it's hard to narrow it down to a single cause, PSU, MOBO, GPU or even the processor itself. But I found simply putting a metal fold up stand that I have for my laptop infront of the PC blocked out a huge amount of the EMI. It was the largest flat metal object I had to hand, and helped prove the EMI was definitely coming from the new computer. (Also changing the position of the guitar pickups in relation to the PC helped confirm where the EMI was coming from.) I'm going to try out a few different metal covers I can place in front of the PC and see which work best.
Not sure if PCS have cases with better EMI shielding available - I basically went for the cheapest case...
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I just got a new PC from PCSpecialist and have noticed my guitar is picking up far more EMI than it was from my old Dell. There are so many new / higher rated components in this machine, and the specs are so different to my old PC it's hard to narrow it down to a single cause, PSU, MOBO, GPU or even the processor itself. But I found simply putting a metal fold up stand that I have for my laptop infront of the PC blocked out a huge amount of the EMI. It was the largest flat metal object I had to hand, and helped prove the EMI was definitely coming from the new computer. (Also changing the position of the guitar pickups in relation to the PC helped confirm where the EMI was coming from.) I'm going to try out a few different metal covers I can place in front of the PC and see which work best.
Not sure if PCS have cases with better EMI shielding available - I basically went for the cheapest case...
Case is hugely important to the build, you can't spec any case you like, they are tiered depending on what's inside, if you spec an inappropriate case, you'll get increased temps due to poor airflow causing all sorts of issues.

With audio as well, there are certain components to use to get best results.

I see you didn't ask for any advice. What specs did you order? Can you post them from the order page?
 
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