Eventide Orville Output Noises

[s25k]

Good evening all,

I cannot believe it myself, but I have another question regarding my Eventide Orville.

After the HC Error somehow fixes itself on some occasions, I thought to myself – Let's finally spend some money on decent amplification, since I use it for guitar and I'd love to use it on stage some day.

I'd only use it on small studio monitors over PC and over headphones up until now.

My idea was to get a full range active PA – and I got a pair of those…. but…

After setting everything up and switching it on.. a very loud and uncomfortable noise came through the speakers.

Checked everything, I came to the conclusion that it definitly has to come from the Eventide's analogue output.

The noise itself consits of 3 single noises – One deep and one really really high – constantly above 12 or more kHz. It really hurts my ears, since it's also the loudest noise!

The last one is somewhere in between. It varies and is more like a "working noise" – You can hear it vibrating and changing, when I press the Orville's buttons, change presets or when I turn the wheel for example.

I cannot play for more than 10 minutes like that – I'll probably damage my ears otherwise.

I wonder, if there's any advice or possible ideas to get rid of that noise.

Many thanks in advance!

Best wishes from Germany,

Nicolas

[IDeangelis]

HI Nicolas

you should make sure the Orville is the cause of the noise. Disconnect every other piece of gear and listen to Orville >Speakers only. Keep your levels DOWN!!!!

If Orville is making that noise, you can try resetting the unit, even though this sounds like a mayor problem. Resetting requires powering the unit while holding down the 8 key. THIS WILL ERASE ALL YOUR PRESETS!!! So back them up first.

If the problem is still there, you should contact our german distributor Sound Service in Berlin or support@eventide.com for servicing the unit.

good LUCK!

i

[s25k]

Good morning!

It definitly is the Orville – having it here lying on the floor with no inputs and just one output cable to one of the speakers is a good way to proof that.

Furthermore, the "high" noise changes when I'm switching between 44 and 48kHz mode – In 48kHz it's much higher in pitch.

Changing the levels doesn't affect the noise at all.

I wonder if resetting erases all MY presets or every preset on the machine – That's what I'm pretty much afraid of at the moment 😉

Best wishes,

Nicolas

[IDeangelis]

The 8 key reinitialization will only erase YOUR presets, not the factory ones.

I

[s25k]

Okay, thanks for your advice – that fixed another problem I had *laughs*

But the noises remain – I noticed that they are reacting heavily to the change of the post D/A level –

They really get lower in volume, but only up until ~ minus 25 dB post D/A – after that, it goes back to the usual noise volume – very strange!

I better contact the support or the Berlin-based distributor.

[nickrose]

Two things to check:

1) Make sure that the XLR outputs are connected properly – ALL pins must be connected, otherwise you will get all sorts of strange noises.

2) You may just have too much gain on the signal so that you are listening to the noise floor of the Orville – make sure that the Orville's peak level (all meters lit) does not overdrive your speakers.

The Orville has a signal to noise ratio of around 110dB – this means that if you follow the output with 100dB of gain (plugging it into a mike input for example) it will sound dreadful (much as you describe).  But, it will also be unuseable, as a full level signal will be totally clipped.

[s25k]

Regarding 1)

I wonder, if there's any special way to check that, but as far as I can see – every plug is connected properly.

Regarding 2)

That was a good advice – even though it didn't kill the noise, but I manged it to get bearable for me playing on my own.

Post D/A Level is set to -32dB – that's the max I can get – of course, I can set the level deeper than that, but at everything -32dB and "less", the noise comes back in full volume.

So I pushed up the input to get fully lid meters and pulled the Post D/A down – that way, I can achieve an acceptable volume with less noise.

Nevertheless, the noise is still there.

[nickrose]

I'm afraid it still sounds like you have a problem with your installation – the fact that you can turn the Orville down 30dB and still hear any signal means that you have a lot of gain after it – this is why you hear the noise.

You need to set things up so that a full level signal into the Orville lights all the meters. Then, turn down the gain on whatever the Orville feeds (this must NOT be a mike input) as much as possible.  Only then should you consider turning down the Orville output gain.

What is the Orville actually feeding ?

[s25k]

It's going into the line input – and not Mic input – of two 80W full range active speakers with an max Sound Level of 116dB and an input impendance of 20kOhm.

The noise is already there when I set the speakers on minimal volume.

Maybe I should've bought a pair of passive speakers?

I don't know. It's kind of frustrating how less money I have left *laughs* and how much knowlegde I'm missing.

Like I said, the noise is also there..and much louder again.. on everything below that postD/A -32dB mark.

[nickrose]

I think you may need some local technical help… but in the meantime ..

The main test is:

Set Pre-D/A gain to maximum (0dB). Set Post D/A gain to 0dB. Turn your speakers all the way down at first.

How loud is a signal that lights all of Orville's meters ?  Without changing anything, how loud is the no-signal background noise ?

[s25k]

It wasn't that loud – it was barely audible.

No audible background noise.

It's not too loud, when I turn the speaker up a bit and it's not clipping, but that background noise/sound whatever it is.. is there – and like I said, that high pitched tone is the most annoying and dominant.

[nickrose]

I am still inclined to think that the problem is your connections and gain settings.

But, I could be wong. In which case, the unit probably needs servicing.

[s25k]

*Update*

I finally obtained a cable, which allows me to connect the Eventide with the system as I did it back in the days, where no noises could be heard at all (at least not that I remember).

Which means basically…

Eventide -> Mixer -> Headphones.

In the end, there's no further amplification – just the Eventide, but hey, the noises are still there.

That way, I have to admit defeat and the machine needs servicing, which is… oh god… noooooooooooo!

At least the speakers aren't at fault.

[s25k]

I was able to record the noise – the file is attached to this posting.

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