Midi Noise. Help.

J

Jordan Christie

Member
Hey guys I’m getting a bad ticking when using my Jackson stuff. It seems related to midi. I’m running from the PBC6X into a disaster area midi box and then to the 3 Jackson’s and chase bliss using standard TRS cables. Everything is powered from a strymon zuma.

When I unplug midi the sound stops. What gives?

 
That's definitely MIDI clock. You'll have to figure out where it's coming from. A poorly shielded cable is typically the culprit. Unplug the 1/4" cables from the MIDI box, one at a time, and see if/when it goes away.
 
Thanks for the reply Ron. I tried 4 different TRS cables in each port. The issue seems present in El Guapo and Bloom with all 4 cables and all . The Golden Boy and Gravitas are fine. What else would you suggest trying? Im going to look at power next. They're all being powered individually from a Strymon Zuma. The noise will go away if I turn midi clock off. But I use that function all the time.

 
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It's either the pedal itself or the cables. When you tried the cables, were you able to route them away from the audio cables? A MIDI cable routed alongside an audio cable could cause noise to transmit from one to the other, unless they're very well shielded.

The ideal test would be to have another source of MIDI clock (like a computer), and connect it directly to one of the pedals (or, as direct as it can be, I know you would need the MIDI box.) Basically, isolate the MIDI clock from the rest of the pedalboard as much as possible, feeding it only to one pedal. If you do that and you still get MIDI noise, it's most likely the pedal itself.

Another possible test: with everything connected normally, turn on the pedal's loop, but pull the power plug from the pedal. If you still get noise, it's probably (but not 100% certain) that it's the wiring. If the noise goes away, it's most likely the pedal (also not 100% certain, though).
 
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