Moog Music Forum

nectarios wrote:

bichuelo wrote:Does this fix work with the Phatty series too?

Yes, did it on my Slim Phatty and it worked.
Noise is completely gone, just like it did on my Minitaur.

Excellent, now that’s what I call a result.

I fixed this problem by simply using a different USB lead.

Had the same problem with the Little Phatty. I was getting pretty bad Audio Line-in ground loop noise whether the USB was plugged in or not. As soon as I played 1 key the noise would start cycling.

I had everything (iMac, Moog, Peripherals) plugged into a battery backup/surge protector.

What worked for me was plugging the Moog into the same wall outlet that the Battery Backup was plugged into. Hope that helps.

Hi guys!

Could someone explain me what i have to use to cover the 4 pin of the usb cable?

thanks in advance

Hi Spin,

From my original post:

lfo2vco wrote:I was looking into using a USB Isolator for my MiniTaur too, however with a little Internet research I came up with a much cheaper option.

Using 19mm (3/4") wide Electricians Insulating tape, I cut a 2mm (3/32") wide strip and placed it in the B end of my USB cable. That is the end that goes into the MiniTaur. The insulating strip was placed over pin 4 completely covering it. The excess length stuck down over the outside edge of the plug, enabling easy removal if necessary. Hey presto the ground noise has gone, the MiniTaur still receives MIDI from my DAW and fully responds to the MiniTaur Editor software.

Here is the USB pin information:

1 USB Vcc (Vbus)
2 USB Data
3 USB Data
4 GND

(Credit to Mosc on the electro-music forum for the pin info)

Thanks! It should work also with shielded usb cables?

spin wrote:Thanks! It should work also with shielded usb cables?

Shouldn’t make any difference, you are isolating the MiniTaur from the Ground pin of the USB cable. So even if the cable is shielded the MiniTaur will still be isolated from it.

Hope this works for you

This is a smart idea, and less permanent than my fix.

I have a ton of spare USB cables, and I have this problem with all my analog synths that use USB (DSI, phatties). So I made a couple hacked usb cables. I sliced horn the cables very carefully and snipped the black wire within the usb cables. Then I taped the cables up very carefully and neatly, and marked both ends of the cables as modified. This works really well, but is a bit sketchy, as you could ruin a cable if not careful, and obviously more permanent.

I notice that sometimes my DAW recognizes my synth immediately, sometimes I have to mess around for a few minutes, swapping out cables and tricking the daw into seeing the synth through the snipped cable. But I've never had the cable completely stop working, or stop working once the computer had recognized the synth.

great post @lfo2vco

I've been struggling with this problem for a while and your solution worked perfectly

i did cut the black cable and now it doesn't read it, ;/

ludacrisca wrote:i did cut the black cable and now it doesn't read it, ;/

Try plugging a regular USB cable in and playing the minitaur. Then with everything up and running, switch out the cables to the snipped cables. This works for me using a Mac Mini, Ableton, and analog synths

lfo2vco wrote:I was looking into using a USB Isolator for my MiniTaur too, however with a little Internet research I came up with a much cheaper option.

Using 19mm (3/4") wide Electricians Insulating tape, I cut a 2mm (3/32") wide strip and placed it in the B end of my USB cable. That is the end that goes into the MiniTaur. The insulating strip was placed over pin 4 completely covering it. The excess length stuck down over the outside edge of the plug, enabling easy removal if necessary. Hey presto the ground noise has gone, the MiniTaur still receives MIDI from my DAW and fully responds to the MiniTaur Editor software.

Here is the USB pin information:

1 USB Vcc (Vbus)
2 USB Data
3 USB Data
4 GND

(Credit to Mosc on the electro-music forum for the pin info)

+1

Many thanks for the advice on this thread! Lifesaver.

Also works terrific in SUB 37, thanks a LOT!!!

lfo2vco wrote:I was looking into using a USB Isolator for my MiniTaur too, however with a little Internet research I came up with a much cheaper option.

Using 19mm (3/4") wide Electricians Insulating tape, I cut a 2mm (3/32") wide strip and placed it in the B end of my USB cable. That is the end that goes into the MiniTaur. The insulating strip was placed over pin 4 completely covering it. The excess length stuck down over the outside edge of the plug, enabling easy removal if necessary. Hey presto the ground noise has gone, the MiniTaur still receives MIDI from my DAW and fully responds to the MiniTaur Editor software.

Here is the USB pin information:

1 USB Vcc (Vbus)
2 USB Data
3 USB Data
4 GND

(Credit to Mosc on the electro-music forum for the pin info)

WOW. Thanks so much for this. I tried lots of different USB cables, both my USB ports (rMBP), via a TB2 hub, via 2 different USB hubs... and always got whining Minitaur noise. But now with pin 4 taped, it's gone!

Thank you.