Strange scrubbing noise recording to album from mic

OP-1
1

Today I’ve tried to record straight from the OP-1’s mic to the album. What I’ve done is set the microphone as sound source and activate it in mixer mode – then switch to album mode and start recording “everything”, which in this case was only the signal coming through from the mic. If I’m not mistaken, that’s how you would record a longer sample or recording on the OP-1, no? But doing so results in a very strange “scrubbing” noise that gets recorded to the album as well. Sounds a bit like a faulty CD would back in the day. This only happens with headphones plugged into the OP-1 and of course the mic activated, if there’s no headphones plugged in, nothing gets recorded through the mic. It can’t really be the mic’s fault as the noise only starts once I start recording to album.


I’ve attached a file (normalized) whistling into the OP-1 from a 25 cm distance. Anybody know what to do? Thanks!
2

It’s normal to have no sound through to out put and album when line out is empty (no headphones) coz of feedback.It gets to tape but stops before mixer.
That noise though-havnt come across that.Is recording to tape ok ,with and without headphones jacked in?

3

Unfortunately, AFAIK this is a design flaw in the OP-1’s electronics – that noise is background noise/interference from the CPU (or data bus or something internal) which unfortunately is picked up by the internal mic.


I think plugging in an external mic should solve this… sadly that doesn’t help the fact that the internal mic is a bit useless due to this noise! :confused:

4

Thanks for your replies so far! The strange thing is: I get the noise recording to album and recording to tape, but not sampling to the sampler in synth mode.


@raigan, do you get that noise too? I’m not sure if maybe my unit’s faulty, then again, given that sampling works fine, it could be a software issue…?
5

Sounds like software.It actually sounds like the effects you get by modulating synth engine with mic /radio/ ear.
I have no prob recording to album or tape via internal mic (as long as line out has connection).I wonder how many others experience this noise?

6

Little update: I get the same noise recording radio to tape, but the “ear” works fine.

7

i don’t use the internal mic a ton, but i’ve never noticed a noise issue on mine. if it is software, maybe try a factory/firmware reset? that sometimes solves weird quirks

8

Thanks docshermsticks for your suggestions – I’ve done a factory reset, unfortunately to no avail. Sent an email to TE support, waiting for their reply…

9

If I had to guess why the sampler recording is clean, I would say it uses a (software) noise gate, for whatever reason TE deemed necessary. As other have mentioned already, the internal mic (ADMP401) signal is subjected to digital noise emanating from the DSP and other components because it travels all the way from the connector board to the main board where the pre-amp is located, alongside with the USB and LEDs signals:

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