i'm having a weird thing at the moment, some crackly noise that seems to come with every pad pressed (sp-404sx), though they're not part of the audio on the pad, hence can't be turned down with the pad volume. it's just some crackle, but very noticeable when the pad is played by itself, not so bad when there's other sounds going on, but weird nonetheless.

anyone noticed something like this?

shitty memory card can cause sample playback to be scratchy/crackly/messed up, could you try using a different card?

the one i'm using is the one that came with the machine, but i'll give it a try... i'm gonna see if cleaning it out once changes anything.

thanks.

--try playing out thru the rcas versus the headphone jack --> still crackling?
--try sampling in thru the internal mic (adjust rec volume way down) --> still crackling?
--are you running it thru a mixer? is the crackling coming thru the mixer channel, or from the 404?
--try a different card / or no card --> still crackling?

often on this forum, most cats who have crackling sounds on their pads have recorded at far too high a volume (so they're hearing digital clipping), or they're playing back at too high a volume (so they're overdriving their mixer channel or headphones).

i am not sure if this applies to you b/c you say you have the crackling without audio playing. but i recommend you methodically figger out what when you are hearing the crackle. makes it easier to diagnose.

good luck.

thank you, i will run through those options, i think it might be just on my headphones and/or the recording level... though it's weird that the crackle seemed to sort of come after the pad stopped playing, like it's coming from the contacts of the pad itself.

in any case i should probably start working on some monitors over rca, i'm doing everything on some sennheiser px100 small headphones (they're good quality but probably not a good match with serious speakers).

I'm having exactly the same problem om my 303. After the sample is finished the crackling starts. I tried altering the volume of the pad, this didn't help. I recorded it with the peak indicator going on and off with 2 second intervals. No effects applied either. Very strange.