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DJ .com · Nov 3, 2003, 08:39 AM

The ticking noise that my G5 makes is just too much. I produce drum and bass music, and a quiet room is absolutely essential to making a good mix. However, even when I have my amplifier turned off and no sound source coming from the computer to speakers, I can hear this irritating squeaking noise emanating from the computer.

What is worse, is listening to this noise through speakers! If you connect speakers to your mac then this distortion noise is amplified tenfold through. I can't make music without having my brain wracked by this huge, crackling noise.

The noise changes in accordance to what I do on the screen, leading me to the conclusion that somehow, the mac's sound is accessing the hard-drive or the processor (one of them). It is the sound of digital number crunching - a low noise floor of square waves and suchlike.

Damnit this is annoying! ;-(

osxisfun · Nov 3, 2003, 10:07 AM

do a search for "nap" or "chud"

there is a way to fix it if the noise you are talking about happens when scrolling etc.

better yet. the apple discussion forums are overflowing with this subject.

Arkham_c · Nov 3, 2003, 12:25 PM

Originally posted by DJ .com:
The noise changes in accordance to what I do on the screen, leading me to the conclusion that somehow, the mac's sound is accessing the hard-drive or the processor (one of them). It is the sound of digital number crunching - a low noise floor of square waves and suchlike.

Damnit this is annoying! ;-(

Would you describe the noise as a "chirp"? If so, download the CHUD tools (mentioned in other threads) and turn off the "nap" setting. This makes the chirp go away.

PacPerson · Nov 3, 2003, 01:32 PM

Yo Dude, if you're a music producer, why in the world arent you using a soundcard ? (and I don't mean the internal one that came with).

If you can afford a dual g5, then surely you can spring for a PRO soundcard.

tyson.r · Nov 4, 2003, 01:37 AM

I can't stand all these "if you can afford such and such, surely..." posts.

Just erks me. Get real dude. People have priorities. Sometimes they aren't the same as yours.

Don't act like you know people.

PacPerson · Nov 4, 2003, 02:47 AM

Originally posted by tyson.r:
I can't stand all these "if you can afford such and such, surely..." posts.

Just erks me. Get real dude. People have priorities. Sometimes they aren't the same as yours.

Don't act like you know people.

I'm not acting like I know him, but I am acting like I know audio & macs, because I do.

If it's important for the dude to have pro sound on his mac, I find it strange that he doesn't use any soundcard for example.

The dude already described his situation. He's a music producer, and he's mixing audio on his mac. I do pro audio myself.

Somebody mixing audio on their mac is going to have higher sound requirements than your average mac user who just listens to mp3s, or needs sound in some game, or watches some dvd film.

There's no two ways about it. I laugh at anybody who claims to take audio seriously on their mac, and they don't even have a soundcard for example.

The quality of the Mac internal soundcards have usually been lightyears ahead of your typical "pc" soundcard in terms of quality, but they are still not "pro" by any means. If somebody has high audio requirements, I find it highly suspicious that somebody would not use any external hardware and/or a soundcard.

What kind of analogue audio out is there on the G5 ? a minijack thats obviously unbalanced ?

please. . . . . . ..

I'm not saying he has to go out and buy a $50,000 Protools system for his Mac, but various soundcards can be had for a few hundred dollars and up.

A music producer without a soundcard/external hardware is like a carpenter without a hammer.

my 2 cents

Arkham_c · Nov 4, 2003, 07:24 AM

Originally posted by PacPerson:
What kind of analogue audio out is there on the G5 ? a minijack thats obviously unbalanced ? please. . . . . . ..

The G5 has two audio-out options, mini-phone jack, and digital audio out. Couldn't the digital-out be used with good results?

(Sorry, I'm not an audio pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a G5 and an curious).

seventn · Nov 4, 2003, 08:31 AM

DJ .com what is your video card?

PacPerson · Nov 4, 2003, 11:08 AM

Originally posted by Arkham_c:
The G5 has two audio-out options, mini-phone jack, and digital audio out. Couldn't the digital-out be used with good results?

(Sorry, I'm not an audio pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a G5 and an curious).

Yes, when I first heard about the G5 having optical ins/outs, I thought this was very cool indeed. As cool as Ataris having Midi ins/outs back in the day.

Now, I haven't gotten to play around with a G5 yet, because most audio people haven't migrated to them just yet. As an example, Digidesign (Protools) hasn't qualified the G5s yet, but this is expected before the end of the year.

The optical ins/outs use toslink cables, and I'm sure this is a great solution for most people's needs, but it is more of a consumer format in my opinion. Most pro audio people will use digital AES/EBU cables, which are balanced. (They look like microphone cables). You are also only able to pass 48k (24 bit) max through the optical outs on the G5, if I read correctly. Again, this is great for most uses, but audio people are already starting to use higher sample rates now such as 96k and even 192 k for serious projects.

But, there is no doubt that the optical ins/outs are a very cool thing indeed. You can even clock the G5 to the optical audio ins. If somebody hooks up their optical spdif out to a decent D/A convertor, the sound will be quite acceptable one would imagine.

If I had a G5, there is no doubt that I would be using the optical outs for everyday listening (mp3s, games, dvd's, etc.)., but I would still need an extra sound solution though, which game me higher sampling rates/ pro connecters/more connections etc., when mixing/recording music.

There's no doubt that the G5 has the best quality sound solution of any mac to date, with the optical ins/outs, because it is giving you the pure digital signal. What you do with that signal, or what you connect to, is up to you.

my 2 cents

soul searching · Nov 4, 2003, 01:22 PM

Originally posted by DJ .com:
...
Damnit this is annoying! ;-(

I can't help since I don't have a G5 but I love Drum 'n Bass and would like to listen to some tunes you've made

zigzag · Nov 4, 2003, 01:59 PM

DJ - if you link to this page and scroll down to the third report from the bottom, you'll see that another person reported a "Geiger counter" type sound coming from his G5 speaker. I don't know if this is what you're hearing (or if it's different from the "chirping" sound) but it sounds like a similar complaint.

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/G5/G5_noi....html#storytop

DJ .com · Nov 20, 2003, 01:05 PM

Originally posted by PacPerson:
Yo Dude, if you're a music producer, why in the world arent you using a soundcard ? (and I don't mean the internal one that came with).

If you can afford a dual g5, then surely you can spring for a PRO soundcard.

I am a poor student who is slaving his guts away doing 16 hour shifts every day, Sunday to Sunday, amidst night uni, making tunes and personal committments; to make money for my studio. I will purchase a MOTU 2408 Mk3 sound-card but only when I have the money.

At the moment my Mac is at the local repair depot and they are trying to work out what is wrong with it. I sent them this forum thread and the messages about CHUD. I hope it works - the thing is though, the noise I am hearing doesn't just come from the computer, it is amplified tenfold through the speakers - unbearable.

I will let you guys know if my problem is any different to the one regarding the noise just coming from the computer itself.

Ta

John

laieboy · Nov 20, 2003, 02:24 PM

Originally posted by PacPerson:
You are also only able to pass 48k (24 bit) max through the optical outs on the G5, if I read correctly. Again, this is great for most uses, but audio people are already starting to use higher sample rates now such as 96k and even 192 k for serious projects.

Isn't it ironic that as the pro audio world use higher and higher sampling rates that the rest of the world is going the opposite direction(MP3's)? I am an "audio people" myself and I think 48KHz at 24bit is more than sufficient for any project since it will most likely end up an MP3 anyways. With the success of iTMS it seems like most people are just fine with the quality of MP3's.

I always told myself that I would never listen to such a 'non-professional' format like MP3 but now I am in the middle of converting all my CD's to upload to my brand new iPod!

my 2 cents.

seventn · Nov 20, 2003, 02:38 PM

Maybe I'm lost here but isn't the ITMS using ACC (MP4) audio??

waaaaayyyy better!

laieboy · Nov 20, 2003, 02:53 PM

Originally posted by seventn:
Maybe I'm lost here but isn't the ITMS using ACC (MP4) audio??

waaaaayyyy better!

same difference...

seventn · Nov 20, 2003, 03:10 PM

Have your ears checked.

laieboy · Nov 20, 2003, 03:32 PM

Originally posted by seventn:
Have your ears checked.

Chill out man, I know the difference! If you want to get technical about it then go ahead! Some people on these boards need to get out more...check you guys out later, I'm heading out to the Van's Triple Crown Surfing Championship happening right now down the road!!!

dwood · Nov 25, 2003, 01:35 AM

what other stuff do you have installed or attached, like printers, scanners, etc...