Apogee Duet gain and hiss

Yeah, I don't know Thomas. I don't have the same issues as you. My pres are clean...It's just my guitar pickups have hot output and the DUET has 60dB of gain..so the DI will just be a better option for me. I also have ground loop issues plugging the Duet into an amp. For that I have this: http://www.ebtechaudio.com/humxdes.html which works quite well!

I will echo your thoughts on the electric guitar and the Duet. The mics work perfectly for me, but I need to send my guitar through the Waves GTR box before it goes into the Duet. It's an awesome set-up. Thanks again to Pancenter for helping me with this Here's the thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8611592#8611592

Brian

One Ohm wrote:
Yeah, I don't know Thomas. I don't have the same issues as you. My pres are clean...It's just my guitar pickups have hot output and the DUET has 60dB of gain..so the DI will just be a better option for me. I also have ground loop issues plugging the Duet into an amp. For that I have this: http://www.ebtechaudio.com/humxdes.html which works quite well!

word. I'm planning on running the DI into the XLR line input, not the 1/4" instrument input set to 0. Weird stuff to say the least...

That's what I do, too, and it works perfectly.

Brian

One Ohm wrote:
word. I'm planning on running the DI into the XLR line input, not the 1/4" instrument input set to 0. Weird stuff to say the least...

ahh...much better!

It could be the breakout cable, google breakout box and read there stuff, it seems that sometimes the breakout cables goes bad and creates hissing, although iv never had an issue with it.

sorry, looks like you already figured it out, didn't read that far

I'm another person with the same problem. I bought a Duet in November 2008 from Saved by Technology in Toronto, and returned it to the store. I tried 2 other units which all had the same problem, so I finally got my money back, and went back to my less pristine sounding but reliable FastTrack Pro.
This week, June 2009, I thought I'd give it another chance a bought one from a different store - brand new out of the box with new Maestro software.
Same thing - maybe even worse - intermittent interfernce noise, loss of level, crackly noisy phantom power noise - completely unusable. However, it sometimes works fine, as it did in the store before I bought it.
Obviously most people are not having this problem, but I can't figure out what's special about my set up. I have a 2007 MacBook Pro and a Rocstor hard drive, that's all it takes to create the problem. I would love to resolve this.

You are describing the problem exactly. This is obviously widespread.

Just to update my situation: I sent the unit back to Apogee, and they returned it with exactly the same problem it had before I sent it.

So the "repair" they did had no effect whatsoever.

$500 down the toilet, a month of lost productivity, $25 for shipping it to them, and still no working interface. What a drag.

After reading dozens of these reports of hissy/noisy Duets I am starting to become convinced that it is a problem with the individual setup rather than a problem specifically with the Duet. I have heard a lot of people say no matter how many units they go through they still get the same problem, while some people have the same (or multiple) units and get nothing but pristine, crystal-clear signal.

Are you people that get hissing/noise running all of your components through a good power conditioner? Not just a power strip or an el-cheapo rack unit, but a real power conditioner that cleans up the power going to your components.

Have you tried replacing the breakout cable?

Are you using crappy cables?

Are you daisy-chaining?

I spent the extra scratch on the Duet because of the amazing converters, and I must say I am **** well pleased.

I'm going to do some experimenting at home and see if I can recreate this "defect".

AecDuck,

I appreciate any effort you put into finding the cause of this defect, as there is NOTHING I would love more than to get past screwing around with this product, and get back to making music. So if you are able to reproduce it, please let us all know what the problem is.

In response to your questions:

1) I am not using a power conditioner. However, I use several other audio interfaces in my system, and NONE of them have any similar problem to the one with the Duet. I have also tried this in two different geographic locations, on three different setups/computers, and it does the exact same thing on all of them. One of the setups is a Powerbook running on batteries, and the same problem occurs there. So it would not seem to be related to my power supply.

2)Re: the breakout cable - the noise occurs even if the breakout cable is completely disconnected. It also occurs with the breakout connected, and a mic plugged in. So it does not seem to be the breakout (although it is totally flimsy looking, with wires the size of spaghetti noodles that I can't imagine are very well insulated).

3)I'm using a $120 Monster XLR cable, that is very well insulated, and that generates NO NOISE WHATSOEVER on any other audio interface with which I've used it.

4) I am not daisy chaining. I'm trying to record a classical guitar with the most stripped down setup imaginable, namely, my mic plugged into the apogee. No mixer, no external preamp, no nothing.

But as I said, the noise occurs whether I have a mic plugged in or not, it occurs whether the breakout is connected or not, and it occurs whether I am plugged into AC power or not, and NONE of my other interfaces make anywhere near the noise of this Apogee Duet (in fact, they all seem pretty much silent to me).

I am going to experiment over the next couple days. Forgive me for sounding suspicious, it just seems so irrational that some people can try unit after unit and have the same problem, but by-and-large most people are completely thrilled with their Duet. Another interesting fact is that it seems most people with complaints seem to have purchased their units at the end of last year. So it very well could have been a bad set of pre's or something.

As I've said, at one point I accidentally dumped a full glass of water onto/into my Duet, and it still has worked perfectly.

Did you say earlier you only are having the problem using Channel 1? Or does it happen on both channels.

If it were me I would demand a new unit from Apogee, citing all of the similar complaints on the internet. Actually if it were me I would have made sure it was working exactly up to my standards before letting the 30 day return policy expire from GuitarCenter, but since you no longer have that option, try getting a brand new unit from Apogee. Just let them know it was defective out of the box.

Do you have a rapport with anybody at the store you bought it from? I have a couple of guys I know well enough at GC that they'd replace a defective unit for me regardless of the 30 day policy.

I originally thought it was only on Input 1, but I found later that I made a mistake, and that it is occurring on both inputs.

Apogee has said they will send me a new unit. However, I read about lots of other people getting both new and repaired units from Apogee, and they still had the same problem. Also, the tech guy seems to be making lots of "pre-excuses" about why the replaced unit they will ship might not work. He is saying that it is caused by not having a mic plugged in, and that "there will always be noise" when you increase the gain, but I have no such problem with any of my other interfaces, and the problem occurs whether I have a mic plugged in or not.


There is nothing I hate more than getting sidetracked with screwing around with equipment, and I would really just love to get my money back so I could spend it on an interface that will allow me to record without all these hassles. So sending this back to Apogee (at $25 a pop, plus a cab ride to pick it up) is a really unappealing option to me, but it may be necessary.

Let us know if you can reproduce the problem in your system.

Believe me when I say I'm not trying to come across like a jerk, but some good advice for next time is to make sure everything is working as you would like it to before you lose the opportunity to get a refund or exchange from the seller. You should have easily been able to return it to wherever you bought it and put that $500 towards a MOTU or something. I have heard of some funky things happening with phantom power on with no mic plugged in, but it shouldn't be causing you distress under normal recording conditions.

You said you bought it in November? Why did you wait so long to use the Duet for the first time?

"Believe me when I say I'm not trying to come across like a jerk, but some good advice for next time is to make sure everything is working as you would like it to before you lose the opportunity to get a refund or exchange from the seller."

No doubt.

I bought it at the end of November. I brought it home, hooked it up, and played back some audio through it, and it sounded great. I used it for about 2 months, just for playback on one of my machines. It seemed all was fine.

Then a few months later I used it to record for the first time, and I was very dismayed to hear all the noise on my first test. I thought there must be something wrong somewhere with my system, so I began the process of elimination, until I realized it was the Duet (other interfaces recorded fine with the identical setup).