Inherent Noise Issues

I'm having a frustrating time with the software. Let me try to explain.

I have several setups. I will list the commonalities first:

All are running through an old Alesis IO4 using a studio grade USB cable to an old Peavey Bandit 30w amp. When not connected to GR7 I get no noise. If I move to another room with my laptop (Surface 9) no noise. Everything works as inteneded. I have Re installed GR7 & ASIO several times.

If I connect to my Desktop WS (Windows 11, Rysen 9, 32 GB RAM, Multiple Drives, Some non SSD,

The power indicator on the App will flash on an off at time. I cannot establish a pattern. There is also an inherent background noise hiss or pulse (Like a heartbeat), (Not experienced on my surface so I have eliminated radio Frequency noise. Sometimes the Audio interface is recognized some times it's not. If I open ASIO and turn off other Devices. The App crashes. I would attach a video but I don't think it would illustrate the point well.

I have another small footprint HP prodesk with a Intel Core I5 7th Gen Windows 11 which has a similar noise issue.

I realize this may not be a software issue. If it is not can you reccomend a trouble shooting method to isolate noise from the signal path.

While I am technical, much of this is beyond my scope and I do not know which resourse to look for. I do not have an audio engineer on hand. I'm just a bedroom guitarist trying to get back to playing rather than deal with technical issue ghosts in the machine.

Thank you. 😓

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Uwe303

Hello,

gr has a gate for that issues like that (of course it depends) have you enabled it. You have two level indicators and right from the left indicator "gate" should be enabled and right from it is a grey knob, right from that you have yellow -xx dB, press that grey knob while playing guitar. Loud short bursts with silence in between. If that´s not enough disable that gate and use the dynamics modules "noise gate" and/or "noise reduction".

But of course if the noise it too loud you should check the signal chain (could you please describe it a bit more, what signal is going where and so on), as you described your interface seems to have problems maybe you need a new one. How do you have the peavy connected to the interface and why, why not connecting the guitar directly into the interface and use only gr7? Also what is the exact model of that amp, it can make sense to connect gr7 in between the preamp and the power amp if the amp has that output and input.

bacohen8

Uwe,

Thanks for you response. After ripping my workspace apart and reconfiguing several time. My ghost at this time appears to be the Alesis IO4🙄. Although I had restarted it several times in previous TS attempts, this morning I retrarted it again and the signal noise is gone. Perhaps it is not as reliable as I has supposed. I'll give some time but I think it's time to replace it.

To answer your posed questions, I have several pedals that come after the GR7 in the circut that are not available in the stack such as a Boss Feedbacker FB2 & a Digitech Brian May Red Special. The Peavey Bandit 65 has never been fully utilized. I will be looking at the Preamp functionality. Now I Just plug in everything in the front.

Please close the ticket / discussion at this time.

bacohen8

Ooops, Not so fast. I simply moved the USB from my laptop to my main workstation and issues persist. Moved it back to the laptop and all good. Keep it open. Let me get some info to you.

Uwe303

You could go out of the pre amp at the back then use gr7 through the interface (line in - line out) then through your pedals and back in at the back of the amp. But as you do it it's also fine you just get a different tone if the build in pre amps are before or after the pedals.

You have a brain may pedal - cool 😎 im looking right now queen live aid, the best live performance of all times, as every decent human being knows. And as I know as a big queen fan since i was a child.

bacohen8

Thanks for the guidance on the Bandit. Yes I am going to try that soon. I bought the BM Pedal a long time ago, before I was aware of various makers and Luthiers making RS copies. Been a fan since Queen II was released. I was at Live Aid in Philadelphia PA USA watching Wembly performances ( I think.) It was a long time ago and I was slightly high ☺️

I may not get back to you this week so Close the ticket. If I need to Ill open a new one. Thanks.

Uwe303

Me too, was watching live aid a a kid - as far as I remember, I keep the thread open for now and you can come back if you have news on the topic. It's better to have one thread per topic until it's answered. Then make only another thread if you have another issue.

bacohen8

I'm back. I have had success with my Surface but still problems on my main computer. I don't know where to start or what to look at. When I start the app it pulses on an off. I am getting guitar signal through the interface. Here is a screen shot.

I am attempting to get a screen recording but SnagIT locks up due to an issue with the sounbd drive only when GR7 is open. I have no other issues.

bacohen8

Here is the video

Uwe303

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/255329#Comment_255329

Can you please send the link again and use the button on the bottom in the middle to paste the link. If you get a prompt that this won't work click on the leftmost button (with one line in it) and then it should work.

Uwe303

Is the noise there if you connect the amp, or how do you exactly test it, I mean the whole chain can you describe it in detail. For example it could be a ground issue between the amp and the computers, then a special USB cable could help (USB ground loop isolator), it separates direct ground connection. Is it there with a laptop operating on batteries?

But i would highly recommend a new (or used) audio interface, this alesis hasn't even a real asio driver, it uses asio4all, so it fakes an asio driver but in background it uses Windows drivers. Asio4all is not bad for some use case's but in your scenario it's not good maybe, you could also try winaspi drivers or what they are called. And you could try to increase the audio buffer size in the asio4all panel.

Uwe303

ohh and i totally forgot the simplest thing, have you tested another usb cable, it seems that your audio interface looses connection, that´s why gr7 turns itself off and on, does it happen if you just connect he interface and connect the guitar directly to the interface and monitor it with a headphone or somethibng else than your guitar amp - that way we could rule out some things.

bacohen8

Hi, let me answer your questions first:

The USB cable is new and high-quality, specifically for an audio interface. The On/Off issue seems to be happening only on one of my computers, even with the same USB cable. It does not seem to matter which USB port I use. BTW, I only recently discovered the problem with USB 3.0. I will not be able to continue to look at this issue till the end of the month as I am currently traveling.

At my other location, I use the Surface9 with the M-Track Solo connected to the amp. No need for MIDI here. Now I'm having an issue with GR7 crashing about 30 seconds after it opens. The works without issue till now. This happens 2 different ways so far. I have already reinstalled. I open Native Access. GR6 & GR7 are installed. I open GR7. Sometimes it takes a while. I see that dependencies need to be started or installed. After the app is open if usually attaches to the Surface sound card, so I have to open preferences. Most of the time this causes the app to crash. Sometimes I can get to the ASIO config to turn off the sound card and turn on the M-Audio interface. which then also causes a crash. If I can get past that, the application crashes after a few seconds. Is there a log file I can generate to see what's going on in the OS?

bacohen8

I have it running reliably on the Surface after applying the Windows update last week and reinstalling it again. I'll continue to troubleshoot my main studio PC when I return there at the end of Feb.

bacohen8

Update: I was not correct. The app is not reliable on the surface. I will try to record it. To describe, even after a fresh reboot with the USB from the M-Audio plugged into my port replicator plugged into the USB-C on the Surface, the App starts and then closes. I just re installed again. Still won't open. It was running this afternoon.

2026-02-04_21-29-03.zip

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