Guitar picking up electric noises when recording. Gigabyte Designare mobo

[fannar182]

Hi there. I was hoping you could help me with this problem I'm having.

I recently built a new PC to replace my MBP Retina to be the main computer at my studio but my PRS Custom 22 guitar picks up so much noise from it that I can't really record anything. I have the Gigabyte Designare motherboard. Could this problem be caused by my motherboard? I've read about disabling some stuff in the Bios called ''C-State'' which causes EMI/RFI interference. I also noticed that 1 of maybe 8 screws that are used to screw the mobo on the computer case is missing. Could that be causing my computer to have some sort of a ground noise?

I record straight to my UAD interface via Kemper Profiling amp (XLR to XLR). I'm 100% sure it's the guitar pickups that are so sensitive and therefor they pick up all kinds of electric/static/crackle noise. I'm also 90% sure that it's picking up my hard drive noise because when I hit ''play'' in Pro Tools I can hear extra noises come in and when I press ''stopp'' those sounds go away. If I would have to describe the noises I would say they are like having a little Star Wars fight inside your speakers. When I turn off the PC and just play through my UAD audio interface (for monitoring) or plug my headphones to the Kemper I have zero noise so I'm 100% it's the PC.

I NEVER had this problem with my MBP. The noise goes away if I go 2 meters back but that isn't a good solution because I have to be able to reach my keybord and mouse to press record and do all sorts of things while recording.

I've tried pretty much everything I can think of for the past 2 days. I have tried:

*Change the guitar cable
*Change the power cable of the amp
*Turn off all electric things in my studio (monitors, speakers, hard drives) except my PC
*Move my PC to the other side of the room and 70cm farther away from where I sit
*Plug the PC to another power outlet in the room.
*Ground lift on my amp

Nothing has solved my problem. So what can I do to ''isolate'' my PC hardware from interfering with my guitar pick ups? Someone suggested buying a dedicated Furman power conditioner to ''clean up'' my electricity so I went out and rented Furman pl-8 and plugged my computer in it but it didn't change a thing. Then I plugged my Kemper in it and again, it didn't do a thing

What could be wrong? Could my brand new Power Supply for the PC be broken? Does the computer case need to be grounded? Maybe I'm using a case that doesn't have any EMI/RFI shielding. Do I need a better case with better shielding against this kind of interference?

Do you have any recommendations for me to solve this problem? Thanks in advance!

[absic]

Hi there,

How is your UAD device connected to the PC, Firewire or USB?

Which UAD Device are you using?

Which Designare motherboard are you using?

What are your full, PC specs?

Are you Over-clocking anything?

[fannar182]

Hi there,

How is your UAD device connected to the PC, Firewire or USB?

Which UAD Device are you using?

Which Designare motherboard are you using?

What are your full, PC specs?

Are you Over-clocking anything?

Thanks for the reply. I specifically bought the Gigabyte Designare because my UAD Apollo Twin is a thunderbolt audio interface. So I have a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter plugged in one of my USB C ports on the back (official Apple adapter) and it works perfectly. My computer is perfect in all ways, I've never had any trouble with it except when I record electric guitar. I have recorded vocals (Neumann TLM 102 mic) maybe 1-1/2 meters away from the computer and no issues, dead silent but it's when I play my guitar the pickups on it pick up all sort of electric crackles, noises and spikes. If I turn off my PC and just leave the UAD audio interface on (to monitor through) then it goes completely silent but instantly when I turn on my PC the noises are back.

I even tried connecting the audio interface to my MBP with my PC shut down and like always it's dead silent. And with nothing connected to my PC (just the power cable to a electric socket) the noises instantly come when I turn on the PC. And that is with nothing, literally nothing connected to it. So it's something happening inside of it.

I'm not overclocking, I wouldn't even know how to do that. Maybe some overclocking features are on by default? I have posted this in many forums (guitar forums, amp forums) and one guy who also had a Gigabyte Mobo had the excact problem as I and he told me to turn off some power saving feature called ''C-State 1'' in the BIOS. I did that but that didn't change a thing. Then he wrote this

''It's worth researching more on the power saving features of your board / cpu to see if there is anything here. Power saving modes change their names through the years but most seem to work on turning the power up or down very rapidly. That can act as a very strong transmitter.''  Could this be the thing that solves my problem?

These are the spec of my computer + I added a Seagate 2TB 7200rpm hard drive. It also worth noticing that after getting some suggestion on my problem I removed the WiFi card completely from the computer and the Seagate hard drive but that didn't fix anything.

[absic]

This must be very frustrating for you. I record a lot of guitar tracks and would be really hacked off if my system was giving me the nightmares yours is! In the early days of PC recording, I did have some noise issues, but they turned out to be non-PC related and were due to external components that I was using in my set-up., mixer desk, effects pedals, midi devices etc. I also had issues with a Stratocaster, where the pickups caused a bit of howling but I changed the resistor in that and cured the problem that way.

I'm not familiar with some of the hardware you are using but bear with me whilst I do some research into it.

By the way, what guitar & pickups are you using?

[fannar182]

This must be very frustrating for you. I record a lot of guitar tracks and would be really hacked off if my system was giving me the nightmares yours is! In the early days of PC recording, I did have some noise issues, but they turned out to be non-PC related and were due to external components that I was using in my set-up., mixer desk, effects pedals, midi devices etc. I also had issues with a Stratocaster, where the pickups caused a bit of howling but I changed the resistor in that and cured the problem that way.

I'm not familiar with some of the hardware you are using but bear with me whilst I do some research into it.

By the way, what guitar & pickups are you using?

I'm using a PRS Custom 22 and Gibson Les Paul Standard. It's so weird because at the same desk if I connect my MBP and use all the same things, same gear, all the same things I can record without any noise or interference. Is just when my PC is turned on

[fannar182]

Here is what I'm dealing with. Its horrible! https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5py1krm66ry30h/PC%20Noise.mp3?dl=0

[absic]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you and I have to agree that the noises are not the nicest thing I have heard.

Sadly I am unable to recreate the problem with my own set-up and I do not have access to your particular equipment so am at a loss to offer a reason as to why why this is happening.

The only simple solution that I can think of would be to add a Noise Suppressor pedal, to your set-up, which should hopefully, cut this noise. But of course, it doesn't explain why this excessive noise is occurring in the first place.