Loud hum when unit is off/patched through an fx pedal.

[johnpeer]

Misery loves company, and so imagine my disappointment to join the forums here, do a search, and not see this topic come up!

On another microfreak group there are at least four or five of us with the same issue. When I turn my microfreak power off I get a lot of loud hum through my monitor speakers. Not just an annoying hum, a "hey what's wrong with your speakers??", hum!

Someone on that form quipped "Well just turn it off when you're not using it. Okay, well. Sure but the thing that's a deal-breaker for me is that it also hums when I run through a pedal. I tried endless combinations of different pedals different cables batteries no batteries... I even took the Microfreak, a tiny amp, and a pedal out to my workshop and tried it, 100% AWAY from my studio: the same thing. There's a super loud hum when the unit is off, and there's a still-too-loud hum when a pedal is inserted (and on) inline to the speaker.

 Has anyone else here had this issue? I'm thinking not, since I couldn't find any threads. This hum through a pedal probably a deal-breaker for me.

I'm hoping someone found a fix? Upgrading the psu perhaps? (It still buzzes under USB power!)

[johnpeer]

The only fix I've found so far is powering it by a USB power bank.
And so the problem lies with the adaper/circuit.
Using USB into a phone charger (AC power) works well too...although I still get some unwanted hum.
I seem to be able to reduce it quite a bit.

I guess mine is a defective unit, so I am returning it today and trying another one.

I envy folks that don't have this issue. It's such a great little instrument!

[robst247]

I have the same issue with the Microfreak I bought a few days ago: an extremely loud hum, which sounds like a ground/earth loop problem, when using the 12V PSU that came in the box. The hum completely disappears when I power the MicroFreak through the USB connection to my laptop.

[Trevor42]

try putting the power plug into a separate socket from all your other gear.

[martindj1]

I'm also having problems with a very loud hum when I plug it in. It goes away if I use the USB for power. Any suggestions for dealing with this would be very welcome.

[BLEO]

I can't remember where I saw it, but someone recommended using a TRS cable (stereo) instead of a TS cable (mono). I recently rewired my home studio and used a TRS for the Microfreak, used a TRS cable and it no longer hums when it's powered off. It may be the TRS but about 50 other connections changed in my setup so I can't be scientifically sure that cable was the fix, though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Airlane1979]

I have the same problem. My Microfreak is patched using a TRS cable to a balanced input of my mixer. As soon as I switch the synth off, there's a very loud mains hum. Nothing else I use does this. I think Arturia don't build to the same specs as Yamaha/Roland etc. I wonder if all Arturia gear is like this?

[d_a_n_e]

Yep, I have the same issue. It's quieter when using USB to power it vs the DC power supply. Also, the headphone output does not produce the noise. My unit came with a 12v 4 amp power supply; arturia tech support tried to blame the power supply until I tried a 1 amp power supply and it did the same thing. I tried using a balanced cable, but it's still there. I've gone through a lot of back and forth via email with tech support, but they will not honor the warranty unless I can provide a proof of purchase that's less than a year old. Since I bought it second-hand, I cannot acquire the proof of purchase. Only now did I learn that there are 11 pages of posts regarding technical issues for just this one device! What is going on Arturia!?

[vinark]

Well I don´t have the issue, no noise never (but I had something similar with a novation circuit, which I fixed with a DI with groundlift, but with that I was one of the few), But I was wondering if anyone tried the phones out as line out. Phones is always usable as line out. Just use a splitter cable, trs to 2X ts/cinch.
They might have made a strange decision with the on of switch and ground.