Power Conditioning to avoid converter slip ups.

[Joe_caithness]

Yo,

So now I have quite a few bits of and bobs plugged into my mains (in a cheap housing estate, not a house/room I built myself) I am finding my converters (RME ADI2) are starting to slip up and momentarily lose clock, and thus the odd bit of glitching is occurring during analogue to digital transfers. I am under the impression that a power conditioning unit is what I require to help with stability in this instance. My power situation is bad, it's lots of 4 ways off other 4 ways, I have tried to prioritise the important digital units power in the chain but it's not working out.

In this situation, what kind of conditioner, and in what part of the power chain would be suitable, I ask on here because it's particularly my mastering chain converters which are slipping up and any further ideas would be very much welcomed.

Ta duckys

[PBM]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

Yo,

So now I have quite a few bits of and bobs plugged into my mains (in a cheap housing estate, not a house/room I built myself) I am finding my converters (RME ADI2) are starting to slip up and momentarily lose clock, and thus the odd bit of glitching is occurring during analogue to digital transfers. I am under the impression that a power conditioning unit is what I require to help with stability in this instance. My power situation is bad, it's lots of 4 ways off other 4 ways, I have tried to prioritise the important digital units power in the chain but it's not working out.

In this situation, what kind of conditioner, and in what part of the power chain would be suitable, I ask on here because it's particularly my mastering chain converters which are slipping up and any further ideas would be very much welcomed.

Ta duckys

Furman - FurmanSound.com - Home to the Leader in Power Conditioning

In the UK Canford carry most of their products.

[Joe_caithness]

Thanks mate,

Where would I place this, directly after the wall plug?

[PBM]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

Thanks mate,

Where would I place this, directly after the wall plug?

The conditioner plugs into the wall, your equipment plugs into the conditioner (the Furman usually have 8 or so sockets).

[nosebleedaudio]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

Yo,

So now I have quite a few bits of and bobs plugged into my mains (in a cheap housing estate, not a house/room I built myself) I am finding my converters (RME ADI2) are starting to slip up and momentarily lose clock, and thus the odd bit of glitching is occurring during analogue to digital transfers. I am under the impression that a power conditioning unit is what I require to help with stability in this instance. My power situation is bad, it's lots of 4 ways off other 4 ways, I have tried to prioritise the important digital units power in the chain but it's not working out.

In this situation, what kind of conditioner, and in what part of the power chain would be suitable, I ask on here because it's particularly my mastering chain converters which are slipping up and any further ideas would be very much welcomed.

Ta duckys

A basic conditioner is not a correct all...
Depends on what type of AC problems you have, drop in voltage? Spikes?
Surges?
A good conditoner might help, just saying don't expect a fix to some types of problems..
Checking for good tight connections on ALL AC connection points would be worth while, esp. if the building is old..But can have these problems with NEW electrical..
Some people do NOT do great work..Sorry..seen too much low quality work..

[streetbeats]

Im also looking into this.

Eric - any idea which are the quiet (silent?) models?

[Tarekith]

Some of the bigger UPS (uninterruptable power supply) units do a great job of conditioning and filtering AC noise, and then you also have some backup power in case of a drop out or other line issues. I have an industrial unit from APC here, I'll see if I can dig up the model number later.

[jdg]

watch out for some of those "online" UPS and make sure they:
A: output sine
B: have at _most_ +/- 5% voltage output variance (most have +/- 10% or more)

[Tarekith]

Agreed, didn't mean to imply one of the cheaper units you can get from an office supply store. This is an industrial unit designed for critical industrial and medical equipment.

[Joe_caithness]

As I use more than 8 sockets currently, is there a downside of using a power conditioner into further 4 or 6 way plug extensions?

The probably is drop outs, as opposed to audible spikes.

Thanks

[streetbeats]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

As I use more than 8 sockets currently, is there a downside of using a power conditioner into further 4 or 6 way plug extensions?

The probably is drop outs, as opposed to audible spikes.

Thanks

Joe I assume that you'll just need to make sure that the sum of the current being drawn by the equipment connected doesn't exceed the current that the conditioner can supply

[Joe_caithness]

Originally Posted by streetbeats

Joe I assume that you'll just need to make sure that the sum of the current being drawn by the equipment connected doesn't exceed the current that the conditioner can supply

It's a shame this room only has one plug socket (!), as I'm yet to find the real solution to this problem, 11 things being plug in, in here, and you're damn sure I aint blowing my new monitors or EQ up!

[Waltz Mastering]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

It's a shame this room only has one plug socket (!), as I'm yet to find the real solution to this problem, 11 things being plug in, in here, and you're damn sure I aint blowing my new monitors or EQ up!

Getting something that will stabilizer or regulator the voltage can get a little pricey, but will be worth it.

[Teddy Ray]

just do like Mr. Li and get a massive AC Power Stabilizer for every floor of your house. I have a friend who has one of these beasts, powering his home studio and hifi system. nuts(because of the size). I have no doubts that it is worth it though...

PEN PCEN - AC Voltage Stabilisers Power Conditioners



The World's Number One Audiophile? | AVguide

[PBM]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

just do like Mr. Li and get a massive AC Power Stabilizer for every floor of your house. I have a friend who has one of these beasts, powering his home studio and hifi system. nuts(because of the size). I have no doubts that it is worth it though...

PEN PCEN - AC Voltage Stabilisers Power Conditioners



The World's Number One Audiophile? | AVguide

I assume they're monoblocks?

No automobile paint finish?

Eric

[jackthebear]

Unless you're living right next door to a power station......then I can't recommend power conditioners highly enough....

[Virtalahde]

I'm about to buy a Furman P-1400 AR E, myself:

FurmanSound.com - 220-240V International Pro A/V Product - P-1400 AR E

I'm also gonna buy an UPS for the computer. Need to dig further into that.

[Ari-M.]

get yourself a LARGE diesel generator, a room full of gel cell batteries....a mega buck inverter and an isolation transformer the size of a car....

problems solved...or not

[Nordenstam]

Originally Posted by Joe_caithness

So now I have quite a few bits of and bobs plugged into my mains (in a cheap housing estate, not a house/room I built myself) I am finding my converters (RME ADI2) are starting to slip up and momentarily lose clock, and thus the odd bit of glitching is occurring during analogue to digital transfers. I am under the impression that a power conditioning unit is what I require to help with stability in this instance.

Hm.... Sure a power conditioner is the answer? Do you see light bulb flicker? Hear popping sounds in the speakers when it happens? Somehow can't see the power being bad causing a digital transfer to drop out while everything else is purdy. Why that particular aspect of the chain going out first? It's usually pretty robust. If there's an error in that area, trouble shoot that area. Buffers at max? Networking disabled? Properly working digi cables? Sync switches and/or termination set as appropriately?

These may be way too obvious general observations. Do of course not know how much have been troubleshooted in this instance. If it was my setup, I'd search somewhere else before blaiming the power if that's the only sign of fault you experience.

Good luck with fault finding!

[finetuner]

Originally Posted by Ari-M.

get yourself a LARGE diesel generator, a room full of gel cell batteries....a mega buck inverter and an isolation transformer the size of a car....

Or cram your studio into a car (using it's clean and safe 12V battery).
That's what most of my clients use as their main reference anyway..


More seriously: Try to deduce the origin of the problem before looking into a solution.
Are you implying that the voltage may have dropped? Have you measured it?
Do these problems occur or increase during switching on/off of other equipment or lights?

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Lupo

Hm.... Sure a power conditioner is the answer? Do you see light bulb flicker? Hear popping sounds in the speakers when it happens? Somehow can't see the power being bad causing a digital transfer to drop out while everything else is purdy. Why that particular aspect of the chain going out first? It's usually pretty robust. If there's an error in that area, trouble shoot that area. Buffers at max? Networking disabled? Properly working digi cables? Sync switches and/or termination set as appropriately?

These may be way too obvious general observations. Do of course not know how much have been troubleshooted in this instance. If it was my setup, I'd search somewhere else before blaiming the power if that's the only sign of fault you experience.

Good luck with fault finding!

Indeed. You should also notice more problems when increase power usage. So if you put your earplugs in and turn up the volume... does the signal drop out when those heavy bass notes hit?

Alistair

[Ari-M.]

Originally Posted by finetuner

Or cram your studio into a car (using it's clean and safe 12V battery).
That's what most of my clients use as their main reference anyway..

?

but the mega buck power inverter and room full of toxic off gassing from the batteries sounds more fun....doesn't it....

my dream would be to find an old data center and convert it into a mastering facility

halon fire system and all....who cares if the halon would kill everyone in the building, in the event of an actual fire....halon freaking rocks!!!!

stike

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Ari-M.

my dream would be to find an old data center and convert it into a mastering facility

At least the loudness war would make sense there as anything too dynamic would keep dipping below the noise floor...

Alistair

[Ari-M.]

Originally Posted by UnderTow

At least the loudness war would make sense there as anything too dynamic would keep dipping below the noise floor...

Alistair

BINGO!!! I win the loudness war


let's just assume that practicality and sanity have no bearing in this game

thumbsup

[Ben F]

It doesn't sound like an AC problem to me.

If you check the specs on your interface it can handle a wide variation in power, and also runs on a low voltage:

Accepted power supply voltage DC 8 V - 28 V, AC 8 V - 20

So that would suggest even with power fluctuations the converter would perform well, like most other well designed professional equipment.

I would suggest a UPS with software monitoring- this will tell you what is going on with the power.

[klaukholm]

you problem could be between your converter and the daw, (unless you see the unit lose clock and it is set to internal)
Have you tried clocking the rme and your daw with a master clock with independent wc to each piece?

Also check the cabling between the daw and the RME. Try different cables and see if the problem is still there.