noise when power off

[c.talvard@gmail.com]

When my microfreak is powered off, but connected with the provided wall plug, it output a ground noise.
Midi adapters are connected, and USB too (but the noise still occured, louder without USB).

Is my device faulty ?

Thanks

[csurieux]

When my microfreak is powered off, but connected with the provided wall plug, it output a ground noise.
Midi adapters are connected, and USB too (but the noise still occured, louder without USB).

Mine is slowly flashing for variable time, sometime more than one hour, I stop it with a general power so its power is not connected, its usb is connected to a hub but on same power control....
All its friend are sleeping.

[MS-20-fanatic]

I hope someone from Arturia can provide an answer for this.  My Microfreak emits a loud annoying 60Hz ground hum/buzz when it is in the powered off state (no USB connected and using a nice gold plated 10ft monster cable).  When I power on the Microfreak, I see the LCD panel first shows the "MicroFreak" splash screen for approx 2 seconds.  During this 2 second period, the noise is still present.  The LCD splash screen flickers once and the noise goes away.  I first thought that whatever is suppressing the noise is software and not hardware based, or the noise gets suppressed when the MicroFreak firmware is initialized and there is some filtration for the incoming power.  If I use a 3-prong adapter and lift the ground connection on the power supply, the noise level is much improved.  Not completely gone, but much lower than before.  Seems to me that when the power switch is off, the noise from the power supply bleeds over to the output jack.  I find it kind of strange that you would even NEED a 3-prong adapter for a synth that runs on 12volt DC.  I own 4 synthesizers that take DC adapters and not one of them has a 3-prong connection for the power supply.   

The power supply model I have is Hon-Kwang Electric Co, Ltd.  MODEL: HK-AY-120A100-DK.  12V @ 1.0A.  A poor quality/design power supply seems to be at fault here but this is still a major annoyance for me and a show stopper.   

[Amaethron]

I think the reason for a 3-prong power adapter is that having ground is essential for the capacitive keyboard to work properly. I've read a few reports where it was powered with a powerbank and the keyboard behaved weird and uncorrectly.

I get the same issue when it's powered off and connected to my interface. I get ground noise / hiss then, but for me it's honestly not a big deal as I would keep it powered on while working anyways.

[rvince]

Has anyone figured out a way to silence this beast when off, short of pulling the audio cable out?

[cfjr90]

I'm having the same issue here with my Microfreak. It appears to be the power connector. When it touches the metal of the ac input on the back of the MF it already peaks a signal to the interface, just by touching it and not even connected to the end.
Has someone figured a way out to this?

[d_a_n_e]

I have the same issue! It's only a little quieter when powering with USB compared to the DC power supply. Arturia tried to blame the power supply because it's 4 amps, but it's the one that shipped with the unit. I acquired a 1 amp power supply and it does the same thing. Ludicrous to think that would make a difference anyway, if you know how electricity works. Also, it's made to power with a USB connection anyway, so the power supply should not be necessary! When using the headphone output, everything is fine.

I get other issues like stuck notes or unresponsive keys after playing for more than about 20 minutes too.

Tech support is acting like they've never encountered this or never read these forums. They won't honor the warranty unless I provide the proof of purchase to show that it's been less than 1 year, but my attempts at acquiring it have failed because I bought it used on ebay. A 1-year warranty is pretty bad.