So I’ve been having this issue for a while and it’s driving me nuts.
I have a mod dwarf in a pedalboard setup with different pedals and stuff, but the dwarf is the output of all that. The output from the dwarf goes to the input of a USB sound card (Zoom UAC-2).
Problem is, whenever the pedalboard is off (I have a switch to turn everything off at once) I get this popping sound every couple of seconds: popping noise - YouTube
Any ideas what I could do to stop it? Change power supplies? Put some kind of filter or isolator in between the pedalboard and the sound card?
I don’t mean while it turns on. Yeah it does a pop when it turns on but that’s just 1.
But in my case it does it every couple of seconds (minutes sometimes?!, I guess the interval varies) even while it’s completely off!
It’s fine while it’s on though. Like right now I’ve had it on for hours and no pops. But I’d like to be able to turn it off in peace
Oh !?!
Very strange !!! It shouldn’t be possible for the dwarf to generate any sound without power… Do you send some phantom power from your soundcard ?
Are you sure it’s the Dwarf? Have you removed the Dwarf and plugged whatever is going into the Dwarf input direct into the soundcard to see if that stops it? Is there anything else plugged into the soundcard? Have you removed the power supply from the Dward and seen what happens?
Not really, no. It’s just the last element in the pedalboard. If something could be causing the popping and going through the dwarf, but …how would that work if it’s turned off?
Have you removed the Dwarf and plugged whatever is going into the Dwarf input direct into the soundcard to see if that stops it?
Not yet. I’m dreading doing that because everything is on a pedalboard velcroed in place, tied with zipties and everything. Anything I change there is going to be a bit of work. I might need to do that if I don’t find any solution.
Is there anything else plugged into the soundcard?
There’s a microphone on the 2nd input, but it’s turned off. And I can see the signal LED light up just on the dwarf input when the popping happens (you can see it in the video).
Have you removed the power supply from the Dward and seen what happens?
No but it’s a good idea. I will try this since it’s an easy test to do. But even if that fixes I’d like to find a way of not doing this manually every time.
@danmh sorry, you misunderstood. The dwarf is powered off entirely (so I suspect it’s something to do with a power supply, or a ground loop, or something like that).
From an electrical standpoint, what you describe seems to me like a reverse cabling in your power mains. Did you test them to check them to see if neutral and hot are inverted? When this is the case, there’s always power flowing even when the equipment is turned off. It slowly loads the equipment and then suddenly there’s a discharge, hence that pop. It would happen are more or less equal intervals.
From a pure audio line standpoint, it might be that the isolation in one of the audio plugs is about to fail, so when it’s powered a “spark” (so to speak) happens, or else there’s movement and the to poles touch.
A faulty capacitor in a power supply could to that as well, but it would be more constant and not so much of a loud crackle.
Is there anything plugged in the USB of the dwarf, like a Wifi adapter ? I’ve noticed a recurrent “pop” sound in my Duo when the Wifi dongle is plugged in.
Is there anything plugged in the USB of the dwarf, like a Wifi adapter
Nope.
As I said in a post above, I tried @shaggydog’s suggestion and unplugged the power from the Dwarf - that fixes it!
@QuestionMarc I think you’re onto something here. It’s def power related.
You said it might be reverse cabling in the power mains - I have one of those phase tester “screwdrivers” so I’ll use it to check the phase on the socket everything goes into - but I have 2 extension cords between that and the wall. I know it’s not good practice to chain extension cords but the 2nd one is just for the pedalboard things and they don’t use a lot of power.
So I’ll try to test the socket in the wall and plug it the other way round.
But it’s weird I don’t get how this works because in the EU the socket is symmetrical so when extension cords get into the mix it’s next to impossible to know which is phase and which is neutral. Apparently the phase is supposed to be on the right.
