High-pitched noise on recording [not feedback!]

Hi everyone, I just subscribed to Ardour after playing with it for a while, but now I have a serious problem. In short, all my audio recordings have a very high-pitched noise. Some comments on that:

  • I disabled all output during recording, so it’s not a feedback.
  • Noise is present on the file itself (i.e. I hear it when I play it with something else), not only on playback with Ardour.
  • There is no such noise when I record with something else, e.g. the basic Windows recording app.

Here is my setup, in summary:

  • Windows 10,
  • i5 CPU
  • 8GB of RAM
  • Soundcard is external, an Audio Kontrol 1.

Now, my soundcard has had some issues lately, especially on play back, but rebooting it does the trick in general.

Do you have any clue for me? Could it be that the RAM is too low? Is it likely to be the soundcard?

Thanks for all the help you can bring.

Could you upload a short example of the noise? That may shed some light.

It’s most likely soundcard or settings used for it. Perhaps try a larger buffersize(1024, 2048), or create a new session with different sample-rate (44100 , 48000).

It’s not memory related. 8 GBytes are more than sufficient. Ardour by itself only needs a few hundred MBytes; synth-plugins can eat up a lot or memory – but low memory would not cause application failure (not noise when recording).

CPU overload is more likely. With a too low buffer-size, the CPU is overloaded and some old buffer is repeated (short loop, could be hissing noise).

Hi there, thanks for the help. I tried different sample rates and and buffer sizes, but it does not change anything. I also tried another DAW (Ohm studio), and I have the same issue, so it is clearly not an issue with Ardour. Added to that, I said in the first message that the basic Windows recorder worked fine, but it is not true in fact, it was getting the sound from another source (the webcam). The hissing noise is present when I record with it too. I think everything is pointing to the soundcard, unless you have another idea?

Here is an example btw: https://vocaroo.com/i/s1s8rmDDySGz

That is indeed a mystery noise. Some resonance around 6kHz that correlates with the signal.
Does that happen with any input, not just guitar?

But yes, most likely this is some issue with the analog input of the soundcard.

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Yes, with any input, and in fact I realised that I hear it without actually recording too (with the live sound, I don’t know how to call it…). Anyway, I think I am good for buying a new interface :/. Thanks for the help again.

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