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I run a Lap top through my PA for use between songs and to run Dance mucis at some of my shows and I also have some Gigs that is mostly DJ with a little Karaoke and the Computer is in operation the entire time.

The problem I am having is that there is always a hum or buzz in the system between songs. I have tried eleminating the ground and it really didn't help, I have tried going from the usb port to a Numark mixer, again no luck. If I play with the levels some I can get most ove it out but it's still there. Sometimes, depending on where I am the noise is really bothersome.

Has anyone had this peoblem and was able to overcome it.

Thanks
John

I have precisely the same prob intermittently at the hotel restaurant I gig at once a month. what I mean by intermittently I have worked there without the hum, but have never understood why I have it sometimes and not others (and never EVER anywhere else) until last sunday.
I had helped the staff set up for 270 for lunch for mothers day and only had 20 mins before the doors opened to sound check...dam me the hum was there and it was loud and I was panicking, I shut down, I changed plug sockets rebooted etc but nothing helped. The new porter is also a dj and he suggeted something...it worked too.
He said always have ALL your equip coming back to the same plug socket/multiboard
well for 270 people you can imagine I had one of my powered speakers half way down the room...it meant running a long extension cord back to my multiboard...but it worked.
Plugged into a diff socket the hum was right thru the system...having everything coming back to the one multiboard I didnt

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Sounds like 60 cycle ground loop hum.  You should be able to lift the ground with a radio shack device.  Are you connecting between an incoming Cable TV source (such as a monitor chained to a cable source), and an AC source that aren't grounded the same way ? If-so, the imbalance of the two currents is causing electricity to run through your equipment finding it's own path and giving you that signal hum because you aren't properly grounded.  Cable TV is often the culprit..  In the old days I used to get humming from reostats and flourescent lighting, but I'm inclined to believe this is ground loop.   Lonnie, or Matt know about the Radio Shack device that lifts this ground..  They can post it

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I'd also recommend that for longterm gigs, you go ahead and have the venue owner have the outlets rewired. You can do it if you know how. It's certainly not difficult if you KNOW how.

Please don't attempt it without at least SOME knowledge on how to do this...

the bloody restaurant manager has just resigned so whether my monthly gig will continue is anyones guess...this has impacted in several ways on me...I market the hotel and have created a whole marketing campaign around the personality of the manager and the functions manager...they are partners and have both resigned and now I am left up S*** creek without my personalities to market and potentially no gig either

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

that effin' SUCKS!!!

thats life...everything is cyclic...my turn will come again...I am about due a run of bad luck otherwise I will become insufferable

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Well I purchased plug adapters from Home Depot that eleminated the ground prong and I don't run powered Speakers. If I run Karaoke Only I don't have the problem at all but once I turn on my Computer well there it is. As I said before, Using usb didn't help at all so because it's easier I just go from the headphone jack. I would really like to get all my Karaoke music on the computer but don't want the noise constantly. Also keep in mind that even with the computer, the noise goes away as soon as a song starts to play. even in a quiet passage no noise but between songs or if the computer is on but Idle I have the racket. Perplexing......

It was pointed out previously, but buried a bit. Simple question:

  Does the hum disappear when you disconnect the TV monitor?

The TV is often the culprit.

The older laptops and boxes with the old ac97 codecs were infamous for hum at max volume.. Try running the volume out at about 75% and compensating with other gains in ths audio chain (preamp etc). See if the hum increases with the computer volume control or not. After rereading your original post I see you have experimented with levels At what computer volume level do you get hum? What audio engine are you using?Winamp?

Digital audio is not susceptible to hum, only after the DAC (digital to audio converter) A poorly designed dac circuit will cause hum esp with uncommon grounds.  The fact that you get hum with a usb converter points to the power supply does it have hum on battery only?

A quick fix would be something like an Alesis noncompressor or nanogate and set the threshold to eliminate the floor noise.

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I have tried levels on the program (I use musicmatch) and it will decrease some but never goes away even prior to musicmatch being launched the hum is there. I have not tried the system (computer) levels and will give that a try.

Thanks for the help folks....

John