Digital noise from ZED R16

Question

Digital noise from ZED R16

I've purchased a used Allen & Heath ZED R16 but have a problem with awful digital noise.

After a few moments of playback, sometimes a minute or so, the distortion appears. If I change the sample frequency (then back again) or if I change the buffer size, it plays ok again - for a while - then the distortion's back. I've tried a new firewire cable, I've trashed Logic preferences, and the issue is the same on two different Macs. It's the same with the A & H Logic templates, so it's not a problem with routing.

I've found online that there have been issues with the ZED R16 and some firewire ports. Mine is a Lucent (supposedly not so good) but, before buying a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter, I need to know if the Firewire issue would cause symptoms such as these...... or is it the ZED R16 that needs repairing?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Logic Pro X, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Macbook Pro 13-inch. Early 2011

Posted on Sep 14, 2015 3:24 PM

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Answer 1

Pancenter

Level 6

14,782 points

Sep 14, 2015 4:24 PM in response to dougfromdover

Offhand I would say the ZED is in working condition.

Couple of questions, what size I/O Buffer are you using, what operating system, or is that the correct one you have listed?

Do you know anyone that has a PC or Mac with that uses a Texas Instruments Firewire chip that you can try the board out with? In my own experience it makes a huge difference.

Are you using the latest Driver/Firmware from this page?

http://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/zed-r16/#tab5

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Answer 2

Sep 14, 2015 11:53 PM in response to Pancenter

I flick between 512 and 1024 for the buffer, OS is Mavericks 10.9.5 and yes, I've the latest drivers and firmware from A & H.

I don't know anyone offhand with a TI chip in their machine, I'll check the other machines in the studio.

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Answer 3

Sep 15, 2015 4:24 AM in response to dougfromdover

Problem solved (kind of) ! The mac was going into an external GDrive (7,200rpm / FW800) and then onto the ZED.

I tried going direct Mac to ZED and that worked without problems.

I have tried an older FW400 3.5” disc in the chain and that works fine too.

So it appears that it's a firewire issue with the GDrives - not the Mac - which is a shame as they are my main discs.

Still wondering if a Thunderbolt hub is the way forward...

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Answer 4

Pancenter

Level 6

14,782 points

Sep 15, 2015 11:54 AM in response to dougfromdover

That's good news, hopefully someone else will jump in here.

ArtofSound uses a Thunderbolt setup on his system but I'm not sure if it's for his Firewire MOTU interfaces or for hard drives.

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Answer 5

Sep 15, 2015 2:05 PM in response to Pancenter

My 3.5" FW400 discs are quite old now and have limited capacity, but they spin at 7,200 rpm and both have the well-respected Oxford firewire bridge chips in them. I'd like to know how people are getting on with thunderbolt hubs and firewire audio interfaces, as I will be working with the ZED R16 for the foreseeable future, and would like to work with my FW800 discs or eventually thunderbolt discs.

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