Mixvibes DVS MKII question

[Schnibs]

Hi all

So ive had mixvibes awhile now and ive had a couple of issues with it so far but since the start ive always had some bad feedback coming through my mixer, when nothing is playing i get like an electrical hiss/humm/garbled noise.
strange thing was though when moving my mouse you could here the sound change through my headphones plugged into the mixer, so i knew it was computer/software/soundcard side rather than my mixer.
when somethings playing its barely noticable but it got annoying.

Anyway ive had a spare laptop for a while and decided to give mixvibes a whirl on that to see if it resolved some issues.
I installed mixvibes did all the updates etc and it was perfect, clean sound
But then my laptop died suddenly so i plugged it in to the mains and fired it up, as soon as i pressed the power button the noise was back
My first assumption was something to do with the computer restarting because with it running on my computer i usually have to do a quick reinstall/callibrating the turntables every time i turn my comp on.
But it wasn't that, its the mains lead to my laptop. unplug it, clean, plugged in, noise.
I tried the mains in a different socket just hopeing really but makes no difference, i also know that its not just the laptop as its always done it on the PC, but its hard to test on the PC without it being plugged in

Anybody got any thoughts or ways around this.

its an old laptop and i doubt it can hold out long enough for a decent mix without being plugged in

[gakto2009]

the problem you are having is known as a ground loop, it caused because one or more of your hardware devices are grounded to the mains power supply in your home...

there are some ways round this, some expensive and some not so safe.. lol

you can remove the grounding wire to the laptops psu (not so safe), or you can get a ground loop isolator (expensive, depending on your choice of solution).

there is plenty of information on google, and i believe on the mixvibes site also..

regards,
Bryan

[Schnibs]

Cheers for the fast reply.

So basically i can either chop the ground off in my mains lead or buy 2 of these and stick them on the outputs of the soundcard?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GROUND-LOOP-ISOLA ... 5ad3eb6afc

not so expensive if there the right thing?

[wazza]

yes ..get two off them

there is some other thing you do to reduce humm noise
1)...take the battery out off your laptop when you play out
( when your battery is charging in you laptop , It can make some humming noise )

2)...keep the laptop power supply as far away from your sound card & RCA cables as you can....as this also can make some HUMMING noise

[gakto2009]

Yes, you can use them... you have to shield any audio cable going from the sound card to the mixer.

[phadedvision]

Cheers for the fast reply.

So basically i can either chop the ground off in my mains lead or buy 2 of these and stick them on the outputs of the soundcard?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GROUND-LOOP-ISOLA ... 5ad3eb6afc

not so expensive if there the right thing?

No need to buy two of them, just buy one and stick it on the master output of your mixer.

[Schnibs]

cheers for all the help guys, much appreciated.

i'll probably get 2 to get rid of it in the headphones aswell.