Something I have been trying to fix for a long time is the annoying high pitched noise that I would hear in the background when recording sounds from my external gear. I guess it has been there more or less since I got my expensive Asus motherboard for the PC. That was years ago but it wasn’t really until I started building and using my modular synth that I started noticing the noise. Somehow it was enhanced by the modular to a degree where I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
I tried a lot of things to solve the issue including buying two kinds of audio ground isolators. They did work. Well sort of… First of all I had to use a lot of them, because I have a big selection of external gear I want to record. Secondly the isolators capped a good part of the lower end spectrum, so a bass sound or kick drum would sound very week. I could compensate with an EQ but it was just too much hassle and I would never get it to sound exactly like it did without the isolators.
There is this thing called an USB isolator which you can buy on the cheap from Amazon or from China, or whatever. And they really do work as promised, by removing just the USB noise and keeping everything else. The problem is, until now if you wanted an USB isolator that could be used for Hi-speed USB, meaning it should be able to shuffle enough data for more than two audio channels, they would cost in the range of $250-300. But luckily, technology tends to evolve and today a hi-speed USB Isolator is finally affordable.
HiFImeDIY is now selling a Hi-speed USB Isolator with a price tag of $79. I got mine a few weeks ago and I’m super happy with it. All USB noise is gone and I’ve had no problems like dropouts etc running 16 channels in 24 bit and 96 kHz sample rate.
So.. yeah I’m super happy. One less problem to worry about. :)